BIG a big hit, lifts toto lottery sales
Written by Writer on Thursday, October 30th, 2008
BIG a big hit, lifts toto lottery sales
Masato Yahagi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, which manages the toto soccer lottery, has finished repaying long-term loans totaling about 19 billion yen, a result brought about by a dramatic improvement in lottery sales.
The growth in sales is attributable partly to the improvement of lottery products and a more effective sales system.
The toto soccer lottery started in 2001 as a way to ensure financial resources for promotion of sports. Sales, which totaled about 64.3 billion yen in the first year, declined annually to reach about 13.5 billion yen in fiscal 2006.
Subsidies from the agency to sports organizations have been decreasing since peaking at about 5.8 billion yen in fiscal 2002, leading to a critical state that made it almost impossible to secure subsidies from lottery sales. Fiscal 2007 saw the subsidies drop to a record low of about 80 million yen. Losses carried forward amounted to 26.4 billion yen as of the end of fiscal 2006 in March 2007, sparking calls for abolition of the toto lottery project.
The situation changed dramatically following the introduction in 2006 of a new lottery named BIG with a maximum prize of 600 million yen. Overall toto lottery sales reached about 63.7 billion yen in fiscal 2007. Sales for this fiscal year reached about 67.9 billion yen as of Saturday, already topping the previous yearly record.
The agency projects sales for the current fiscal year will amount to 80 billion yen to 90 billion yen. If the current brisk sales continue, the agency’s subsidies to sports organizations will top 6.5 billion yen in fiscal 2009. Losses carried forward may be written off at the end of this fiscal year ending next March, an agency official said.
What is behind the recovery of lottery sales? The agency cited as one factor the switch to direct supervision of lottery sales and payment of prize money previously entrusted to a financial institution.
Introduction of a general competitive bidding formula for its projects resulted in a drastic cost cut. In addition, the revision of relevant laws provided a tailwind to make it possible to shorten the time needed to carry out new policies.
These improvements made it easier to develop new lottery products that could meet the needs of customers. The biggest result of this was the birth of the BIG lottery, whose sales have grown explosively.
Sales of general toto lottery tickets started at convenience stores to deal with complaints that there were too few lottery-selling outlets.
Commenting on the prospects of the toto lottery, Toshikazu Ishino, an executive director of the agency, said: “We’ll continue strenuous efforts to chalk up profits. At the same time, we’d like to make customers recognize that buying lottery tickets leads to the promotion of sports.”
Currently, the sales of lottery tickets whose scores for J.League soccer games are randomly forecast by computer, such as BIG, account for 80 percent of lottery sales. Regular customers concentrate on toto and other types of lottery tickets in which results of soccer games are predicted by ticket buyers. The sales of computerized-prediction lotteries, on the other hand, are liable to be influenced by social conditions.
To help stabilize proceeds, the agency will strive to expand sales of prediction-type lotteries, an agency official said.
Concerning the use of subsidies from the agency, a special committee of the Central Council for Education, an advisory body to the education minister, met on Oct. 2 to decide on a policy to allocate subsidies for projects to plant turf on athletic grounds of municipal primary and middle schools. This is in response to an increasing use of school grounds by community groups. Subsidies will reportedly be provided to such schools on a priority basis.
In Britain, proceeds from state-operated lottery sales have been used to fund intensive training of athletes. As a result, the number of gold medals won by British athletes increased from nine in the 2004 Athens Olympics to 19 in the Beijing Olympics in August.
With this in mind, it is essential to discuss the most effective use of the agency’s subsidies.
(Oct. 31, 2008)
