Executive Director’s message

At the WLA, we are tasked with supporting our member organizations in providing entertaining yet socially responsible games to generate funds for good causes. We aim to progress the global regulated lottery and sports betting ecosystem, by providing value to our diverse member base through key products, services, and sharing of knowledge.

As such, we are advancing a number of important projects. In October this year, we will launch the next iteration of our Security Control Standard, WLA-SCS:2024, which has been prepared by the WLA Security and Risk Management Committee (SRMC). Users will have greater clarification on the overall certification process and more guidance on security for cloud-based systems. New controls have been added for random number generation systems, and for lotteries participating in games administered by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL).

Our partnership, starting in 2024, with DigitalRG (www.digitalrg.com), a platform that greatly streamlines that responsible gaming certification process, has resulted in an increase in lotteries successfully completing level 2 of the WLA Responsible Gaming Framework certification for the first time.

The four-year rollout phase of the WLA new strategy has begun, and we are promoting different aspects, through video and other media, in the lead up to October’s World Lottery Summit (WLS 2024), where we expect to showcase some of the initiatives.

As preparations for WLS 2024 advance, with host lottery Groupe Française des Jeux (FDJ), we look forward to providing all participants with a truly insightful and fun week in the French capital. We hope to leave everyone inspired to carry on the noble work of raising funds to support diverse communities and great causes around the world.

Another important area of our work is the key role we play in the global effort to fight illegal betting operators. We are working to develop a standardized, scalable, and reliable method for estimating the illegal gambling market, to enhance the ability of regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies to combat this phenomenon, and protect the integrity of the legal gaming ecosystem.

With the need to promote transparency, accountability, and safety in the gaming domain, which would aid in creating a fairer and more equitable gaming environment for all stakeholders involved, we commissioned a study by the University of Lausanne (UNIL), on the different methods currently used for estimating the size of illegal markets. This was presented and discussed at an international workshop earlier this year, and the WLA Illegal Lotteries Betting Committee (ILBC) has been tasked with developing a Market Atlas for illegal gambling.

Finally, the WLA Publications Hub launched earlier this year at publications.world-lotteries.org allows visitors to easily search, read, and share our communications products, including the WLA magazine, best practice guides, annual review, and blog updates.

Our latest addition to the Publications Hub is the WLA Best practices for detecting fraud and money laundering, guide, developed by the WLA Betting Integrity on Sports and Horse Racing Committee (BISHRC). The guide is based on the best practices of WLA members and provides an in-depth example from Loterie Romande, in Switzerland. The aim is to add more examples from members in different jurisdictions. We expect to share this content with the Council of Europe, which is also working on this topic.

As part of the ongoing process of digitalizing the WLA Global Lottery Data Compendium, and in keeping with the key compendium theme of continuous improvement, the eleventh edition of the GLDC sees a move away from the traditional hard copy printed work and accompanying soft copy PDF. The GLDC will now be hosted online as a digital publication at the WLA Publications Hub at publications.world-lotteries.org and is expected to launch contemporaneously with the WLS 2024.

The individual profiles of WLA Regular Members and WLA Associate Members, which previously constituted the main body of the GLDC, continue to be maintained online on the WLA website. This online directory of WLA members can be found at www.world-lotteries.org/insights/data-compendium and has provided the WLA membership with a fully searchable catalog since 2021.

Bespoke analysis of aggregated compendium data is now supported through the eCompendium aggregated front end, which can also be found at www.world-lotteries.org/insights/data-compendium. Features of the aggregated front end include live tabulated data and dynamic, configurable pie and bar charts. The interactive nature of the aggregated front end allows real-time visualization of WLA lottery and sports betting data as never before. For example, bar charts can presented as standard, stacked, or 100% stacked graphs at the click of a button, while financial figures can be instantaneously presented in any major currency. The eCompendium aggregated front end launched at the end of the first quarter of 2024.

We hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to welcoming you in Paris in October.