European lotteries launch joint venture for future digital innovation

Four of the largest state-owned lottery operators in northern Europe have announced the establishment of a joint venture that is to allow them to pool individual resources in order to provide players with an enlarged portfolio of digital games.

Four-nation concern:

According to an official Tuesday press release published by European Gaming Media and Events, Finland’s Veikkaus Oy has partnered with Danske Lotteri Spil AS from Denmark, Norway’s Norsk Tipping AS and French lottery provider Francaise des Jeux to launch the Lotteries Entertainment Innovation Alliance (LEIA) AS concern.

‘Liquidity games’ intent:

The four parties stated that they ‘share the same values and public interest goals’ and are to now work together via LEIA AS ‘to build a wider and efficient digital gaming offer.’ They moreover declared that this will permit them to ‘foster open innovation’ and ‘address some of the common main challenges in the digital space’ in hopes of being able to develop a range of ‘liquidity games.’

Experienced leadership:

The four lotteries explained that the fresh enterprise has been set up as a limited liability company with its offices in the Norwegian city of Hamar and is to be led in the role of Chief Executive Officer by Morten Eriksen, Distribution and Digitilization Executive Vice-President for Norsk Tipping AS. They detailed that the new boss has ‘more than 20 years of experience’ in the telecommunications sector and is to be ably assisted by Olli Sarekoski, Chief Executive Officer for Veikkaus Oy, in the position of Chairman.

Sarekoski’s statement read…

“Consumer behavior in the lottery industry is changing rapidly, which requires faster development and adaption from both operators and suppliers. We are happy to announce this new joint venture and I believe we will be stronger together in the long term in delivering strong value propositions to each market.”