Nov 2010 Financial News

Cash Pot gets a fourth draw

Nov 03, 2010

Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) has added a fourth daily draw to its flagship lottery game, Cash Pot, in a move aimed at capitalising on the popularity of the brand which has been raking in billions of dollars for the gaming company.

On Monday, SVL held its first Cash Pot draw at 10:30 am, which joins daily time slots at 1pm, 5pm and 7:30 pm. SVL also added the fourth daily draw to its Pick 3 brand.

SVL CEO Brian George told the Business Observer yesterday that while a move to have four daily Cash Pot draws has always been in the pipeline since SVL launched the lottery game -- derived from the traditional game, Drop Pan -- nine years ago, the game's overwhelming popularity prompted the company to make the move at this time.

"From a business point of view, one of the things that we recognise is that we're not like other businesses which can charge more fees or raise prices, so if you look at our games, we grow our business by adding to the frequency of the draws or by adding new games," said George.

"So, this is just consistent with our business model in terms of how we improve our business but at the same time we only do those kind of things when we have gotten enough consumer feedback that this is something that's desirable," he said.

According to George, Cash Pot represents "over 75 per cent" of SVL's business. Revenues derived from Cash Pot improved by 27 per cent to $19.35 billion over the financial year ended December 31, 2009, compared to the year prior.

"It will always be our flagship game," said George of the relatively low margin Cash Pot, which has the highest frequency of payouts among SVL games.

"It's the game that all Jamaicans have embraced -- there's a lot of player satisfaction -- whilst Lotto and all the other games have niches," he added.

Meanwhile, George said that work is underway to improve the odds of winning the Super Lotto, the big ticket multi-jurisdictional regional game which has underperformed.

Super Lotto, which has sales in seven countries, including Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Barbados and St Maarten, launched in August 2009 with a starting jackpot of $180 million with odds to win the jackpot at one in 11 million. However, in response to unsatisfactory consumer demand, SVL revamped the game in March to include a lower price option on tickets and more opportunities to win the lower tier prizes. According to George, more changes are in the pipeline.

"We looked back at the game and we have done one significant thing in reducing the prices so that you can now bet at $150 or $250," he added. "The next step, really, is what can we do to make sure it doesn't take a year again for somebody to win and the only way you can do that is by reducing the odds...That's on the table and its being reviewed."

Last month, the game had its first jackpot winner, more than a year after being launched.

"The credibility of any lottery game is the extent to which people win. If nobody wins then the game has no credibility, so we were anxious (for a winner) but of course we can't affect that," said George.


Source:
By Julian Richardson Assistant business co-ordinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com
Jamaica Observer
Wednesday November 3, 2010

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Cash-Pot-gets-a-fourth-draw_8113570