Crown Resorts to launch online lottery product

Australia-based casino operator Crown Resorts is planning to launch an online lottery betting product through its internet sports betting arm CrownBet.

According to the Australian Financial Review newspaper, ‘CrownLotto’ could go live as early as this week, as Crown seeks to compete with Lottoland and its expanding presence in the Australian market.

Lottoland launched in Australia last month through a partnership with William Hill.

Similar to Lottoland, players in the country will be able to use CrownLotto to bet on the outcome of a traditional lottery draw, rather than purchase tickets and take part directly in the draw.

Speaking to the newspaper, a Crown spokesperson said the new product will “meet the clear and growing customer demand that is driven by huge jackpots in overseas draws”.

The newspaper also reported that CrownLotto will donate a share of its earnings to various community causes.

This arrangement will conflict with the current setup at Lottoland, which does not currently contribute any funds to social causes, as traditional lotteries in the country, and other regions around the world, are required to do.

Earlier this month, Crown reported year-on-year losses across a number of key financial metrics for the 12 months to June 30, after citing “difficult trading conditions” in the period.

Normalised net profit after tax came in at Aus$343.1m (€228.7m/US$273.6m), down 15.5% on the previous year, while normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation dropped 3.3% to Aus$828m.

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