In the next five years there may be a US$1-billion lottery for Jamaicans to participate in, according to Supreme Ventures Limited’s (SVL’s) president, Brian George.

The head of the gaming company that operates the Lotto and Super Lotto games locally said the global nature of the lottery industry, coupled with the waning interest in some games, means that lottery operators must find new ways to stimulate business.

“We anticipate that in the next five years we will see a (US) billion-dollar jackpot where different countries come together,” George told the Business Observer yesterday following his presentation at the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (AMCHAM) Breakfast forum held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. “When the world of lottery operators begin to consolidate their operations, playing one game, China is playing it, Europe is playing it, the Caribbean and South America is playing it, you will be generating astronomical jackpots,” .

By George’s reckoning, lottery markets have become so mature that the jackpots must be bigger to stimulate sales.

Games such as the Powerball and Megamillion in the United States are each promising a US$300 million jackpot, which means that the market will be demanding even larger jackpots soon.

“So what we are saying is that 20 years ago if you heard about a $20 million jackpot you had lines down the street,” George said. “Now people don’t care. It takes in the United States about US$300 million to get the market truly excited. Now that is beginning to become saturated so it may take another substantial coalition of lotteries to be able to get people really excited.”

Lottery operators across the world are therefore looking at ways to ensure the growth of the market. The decision to undertake a global lottery is expected to conclude within the next five years.

“That is the direction that we have to go in, because it is the direction that the world has gotten to so we have no choice but to do that,” George said.

Already, SVL has created its own consolidated lottery game — Super Lotto — which which entails three lottery operators in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and the Eastern Caribbean combining to do business across the Caribbean. That game’s jackpot started at US$2 million ($178 million) when it started last August and as at yesterday stood at $376 million (US$4.2 million).

Interest in the Super Lotto has waned, according to George, since the length of time it takes to realise a winner is far more protracted than in the regular Lotto.

“Winners don’t come every day,” said George. “It’s not like a Lotto game where you might have a winner every three weeks, every two months or every four months. In this thing we can go months without a winner and I think the market has to settle down and understand that. I think once we get our first winner we will begin to see people’s interest again.”

SVL and GTech Corporation — the gaming and technology services company which provides the online gaming capability for SVL — are also in the process of developing other products for the local market. Neither George nor GTech chairman Donald Sweitzer would disclose details of the new products, but both indicated that they are looking at niche market opportunities both within and outside gaming.