Apr 2011 Financial News

SVL gets 10-year licence extension

Apr 13, 2011

Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) has been granted an extension of its lottery and gaming licence until 2026, an additional 10 years, under new terms which will see the company investing some US$5 million (J$450 million) in upgrading and expansion of its operations across the island.

"We have a strategic plan for the growth and expansion of our gaming and entertainment operations that will require significant investment in partnership with our technology suppliers," said Paul Hoo, chairman of SVL, in a statement on Monday. "As such, the directors took the decision to present our plan to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) early and seek its approval for an extension of the lottery licence, which represents our core business."

Its last licence was expected to expire in 2016.

New game coming

The company did not elaborate on the specific plans going forward but mentioned the introduction of a new game called Pick Four.

"Plans are far advanced for the introduction of a Pick Four game, for which the company received approval in September 2010," said Hoo.

Over the last three years, SVL has been steadily increasing the menu of games it offers to the public, the latest addition to its portfolio being Pick Two, which was introduced last December.

Pick Two enables players to simply chose two numbers, one each from two different sets of 36 numbers, giving them a chance to win up to $8,000 from a $20 wager.

Pick Two brought the company's number of online lottery games to nine, along with Super Lotto, a multi-jurisdiction game introduced in August 2009.

Along with those, SVL also offers sports betting, on which the company is still to be fully capitalised, pending amendments to the regulations.

Among the other games offered are Pick Three, Dollaz, Lucky Five and Cash Pot, the company's main revenue earner.

At the end of the financial year ended December 2010, SVL earned $16.8 billion in cash pot sales, or $1.4 billion per month, a slight gain on the monthly $1.38 billion earned in 2009.

Of total group revenue, cash pot sales contributed 66 per cent at the end of last year, a slight dip from 68 per cent in 2009.

SVL also said the extension of its licence would allow for the expansion of its gaming network to provide additional jobs in the future.

At present, SVL employs in excess of 2,500 people through its network of lottery agents islandwide.

"Between now and 2016 we are committed to upgrade technology and expansion of network to get into the rural areas," said Brian George, president and chief executive officer of SVL.

George also said that further upgrade of its lounges, which span Acropolis in Barbican, May Pen and Portmore, as well as Coral Cliff in Montego Bay, will be done.

In January 2010, SVL opened its latest lounge in the business district of Portmore, spending between $30 million and $40 million to outfit the operation.

SVL, incorporated in 1995, was first granted a licence in 2001 by the BGLC to promote and conduct three specific lottery games under the rules and regulations established by the commission.

That licence was granted for a period of 10 years. It was then extended for a further six years, up to 2016.

Now the lotteries and gaming company has received another 10 years over which it can sell its products islandwide.

"We are happy that after much deliberation the BGLC has approved the licence extension," said Hoo.

Based on the extension of the licence, SVL said it expects to make a contribution of more than $17 billion to the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund over the 15-year period, from 2011 to 2026.

To date, the company has paid out more than $5 billion to the fund.

Listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, SVL last traded at $2.18. It has an asset base of $4.6 billion.


Source:
sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com
Jamaica Gleaner
Wednesday April 13, 2011

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