National Lottery plc commences operations of the National Lottery of Malta after being granted licence by MGA

Last Updated on Thursday, 7 July, 2022 at 9:37 am by Andre Camilleri

In a commemorative event held at the Saluting Battery at the Upper Barakka Gardens, in Valletta, National Lottery plc celebrated the start of the takeover of the national lottery of Malta.

National Lottery plc a subsidiary of the IZI Group was granted an exclusive licence to operate the national lottery of Malta which includes the popular games of Lotto and Super5 by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) for the next 10 years.

In a short speech to commemorate this defining moment for the Group, Johann Schembri – CEO of National Lottery plc explained how today marks a new era for the national lottery of Malta. ‘Today is culmination of years of work that we have undertaken as a team. I am very grateful to have found a team of people that have put their life on hold to ensure that we deliver a new national lottery service in record time,’ commented Mr. Schembri as he thanked the hundreds of employees that form part of the IZI Group. ‘We are committed to deliver an innovative, forward-looking and above all a fair and transparent national lottery service, powered by the world’s leading lottery technology company, International Game Technology (IGT). We are also proud and privileged to be the first fully owned Maltese company to operate what essentially is the most important gaming operation in Malta which now allows our Group to take an active role in all the land-based gaming business verticals. Our aspiration is to take the national lottery of Malta to unprecedented levels in line with the highest operating standards found in Europe.

Schembri thanked all the stakeholders that were involved in making this project a reality, including the Ministry for the Economy, the Privatisation Unit, the Malta Gaming Authority, and representatives of the Lottery Agents (the Malta Chamber of SMEs, LRU, GLAA), Bank of Valletta plc, and all bondholders for the trust that they have shown in National Lottery plc.

In his address, the Minister of the Economy, European Funds and Arts, Silvio Schembri said that National Lottery plc will be keeping alive the popular and beloved games of Lotto, Super5 and other games, whilst at the same time adhering to strict responsible gaming principles. “I would like to thank the Priviatisation Unit who led the whole process as well as the Malta Gaming Authority for the technical assistance so that today we have a new Maltese Lottery operator. Above all I would like to thank and wish the best to National Lottery plc for the next ten years,” said Minister Silvio Schembri.

National Lottery plc is expected to bring several improvements to the existing games, including improved odds for Lotto, the elimination of prize capping, a new Tuesday Lotto draw and larger jackpots for the Super5 game. National Lottery plc will also introduce new games to enrich the current portfolio, including add-ons to the Super5 game (Super5 Plus and Super5-4-3-2-1) and the introduction of a new digit game known as Pick3. The popular game of Keno will be distributed under a new brand name – FastKeno.

National Lottery plc has also managed to acquire the rights to distribute Malta’s most popular sports betting brand – IZIBET which from today will be available through more than 200 points of sale across Malta and Gozo.

National Lottery plc takes over the operation of the national lottery of Malta from Maltco Lotteries today, with the first Lotto draw earmarked for Saturday 9 July 2022 at 8:35pm, followed by the first ever Tuesday Lotto draw on the 12 July 2022 also at 8.30pm on TVM.

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