Version: 15012003
Editor: Franka Pals
Publisher: Novamedia
Disclaimer: Novamedia disclaims all liability for information provided within the ”Novamedia European Gaming and Lottery Files”.The information is supplied by independent journalistic sources. No parts of these files may be reproduced in any form by print, photo print, microfilm or otherwise, or re-distributed electronically in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW), with 18 million inhabitants, is encircled in the North and East by the state Niedersachsen, in the East and South by the state Hessen, in the South by the State Rheinland-Pfalz and in the West by Belgium and The Netherlands.
Nordrhein-Westfalen includes the former Prussian province of Westfalen, the northern portion of the Prussian Rheinprovinz, and the principality of Lippe-Detmold. Westfalen and Rheinprovinz were combined on August 23rd, 1946, by the British military government and Lippe-Detmold was added six months later.
The capital is Düsseldorf with 600,000 citizens. The biggest city is Köln (1 million inhabitants), well known by its cathedral and its 18 TV companies operating from the city where the famous 'water' is coming from: Eau de Cologne. In the very densely populated state of NorthRhine-Westfalia, the largest German urban agglomeration, one comes across well known big cities such as Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bochum, Wuppertal, Bielefeld, Gelsenkirchen, Münster, Mönchengladbach, Aachen, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Oberhausen and, of course, Bonn, the former Capital of the Bundes Republick and Beethoven city. Also striking is the number of rivers crossing NRW: Rhein, Ruhr, Ems, Lippe, etc.
Widely known in this German state is the cozy Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) organized in the above-mentioned cities. It starts from the Advent till Christmas. From far one may smell the burning of the almonds and the chestnuts. And, Christmas' bakery and warm 'Glühwein' (a warm red wine with sugarcane and cinnamon) can never be absent. Christmas trees, bells, winter scenery, candles, open fires, arts and crafts, small presents and above that, Santa, are an essential part to celebrate Christmas in the Nordrhein-Westfalen way.
Schloss Augustusburg, part of UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage, is a masterpiece of the Rococo period in Germany and when you are there you may visit at the same time Schloss Falkenlust, the hunting lodge, and walk in the park – that is sensational. The construction finished in 1740, so the famous poet and journalist Heinrich Heine (1797 – 1844), born in Düssseldorf, may have got his inspiration for his first poem collection 'Gedichte' (poems) in the cast shadow of castle Augustburg. Heine's famous poem is 'Lorelay', set to music by Silcher in 1837, it became one of the most popular German songs.
The Ruhr area in NRW used to be the center of mining and (related) industry. However, the structural change of the region's economy has lead to a constant decline of industrial production, especially within the Ruhr area whose current share of industrial activities lies below the German average. Nowadays, the Rhine-Ruhr area holds a leading position within the German economy as one of the major locations for services, especially in the fields of commerce, insurances and services for enterprises and IT.
Each two years, another region within North-Rhine Westphalia is charged with implementing and presenting new strategies and projects of sustainable development. The 'Bergische Citytriangle', situated between the Ruhr area and the 'Rheinschiene' and comprising the three towns of Wuppertal, Solingen and Remscheid will be the exemplary Region for the year 2006. The slogan of the Regionale 2006 is 'Spurwechsel' (lane change), indicating the intention of the participating municipalities and organizations to introduce new programs and approaches for a sustainable development of urban areas and landscapes.
There is a new wave of activities aimed to attract shopping malls as well as entertainment industries and important events like the football world championship 2006 and the Olympic games in 2012.
Websites: www.westlotto.de and www.cyberLotto.de
'WestLotto' is the trade name of 'Westdeutsche Lotterie GmbH & Co. OHG' (West Germany Lottery Company). Partners are:
Based on a treaty with Land Nordrhein- Westfalen, dated November 20th, 1969, and July 10th, 1970, the Westdeutsche Lotterie GmbH & Co. OHG is managing and operating the lottery business in NRW.
WestLotto is member of the German Lotto and Toto Block (Deutschen Lotto- und Toto-block), DLTB. This is a cooperation of the 16 Lottery operators in the 16 German states. Main purpose of this cooperation is the pooling of the stakes, the pay-outs to the winners, the common marketing, etc. In 2001 Westlotto generated revenue via the German Lotto and Toto Block of over 2 milliard Euro. With this result WestLotto is the Block's market leader.
In 2001 the Westlotto's revenue reached 2,053.46 million Euro. In 2000: 2,069.23 million Euro. Net Profit in 2001 is 9.9 million Euro, which is 1.28 million Euro higher than in 2000. The surplus from the operating results was 23.78 million Euro (2000: 18.06).
Westlotto has 372 employees, of which 52 work part-time.
At the beginning of January the Klassenlotterie (passive lottery) and travel agenc activities were consolidated into WestEvent Travel GmbH & CO. KG and remained no longer part of Westlotto. The sales in 2000 of the travel activities were 76.79 million Euro and the NKL lottery in 2000 brought still 24.08 million Euro.
|
2001 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Pay out to players | 1,019,627,559 | 972,452,281 |
| Lottery Tax | 354,035,341 | 332,565,533 |
| License Fee | 483,306,164 | 473,368,811 |
| Provisions | 166,287,799 | 167,301,069 |
|
Revenue (x 1 million Euro) |
Share in % | 2000 in % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lotto | |||
| Saturday Draw | 1,063.9 | 51,7 | -01,0 |
| Wednesday Draw | 319,7 | 15,5 | +44,6 |
| Spiel 77 | |||
| Saturday Draw | 181,4 | 8,8 | -01,4 |
| Wednesday Draw | 45,8 | 2,2 | +23,4 |
| Super 6 | |||
| Saturday Draw | 121,5 | 5,9 | -00,4 |
| Wednesday Draw | 31,6 | 1,5 | +27,3 |
| GlücksSpirale | 67,1 | 3,3 | -16,2 |
| FuszbaltotoAuswahlwette | 18,3 | 0,9 | -03,8 |
| Ergebniswette (pool) | 9,2 | 0,4 | 24,9 |
| ODDSET | 145,6 | 7,1 | -09,8 |
| Renn Quintett | 0,3 | 0,0 | -16,6 |
| Instant games | 53,5 | 2,6 | + 33,0 |
For the NRW State and an impressive number of good causes organizations in the field of Sports, Social care and Culture receive yearly an amount of over 800 million Euros.
The linking of the Saturday and Wednesday draws via just one Jackpot was successful. Lotto 6/49 is the proud top scorer of the Westlotto gaming products. In September 2001 a combined play slip for the Wednesday and Saturday Lotto drawings was launched.
Spiel 77 and Super 6 knew a good year in 2001. Spiel 77 registered 226.53 million Euro in revenues, which was a 6.12 million Euro improvement over the previous year. Its participation quota of 82.3% remained at a consistently high level. Super 6's success quota increased from 68.4 to 69.3%. The game registered sales of 152.55 million Euro, exceeding the previous year's performance by 6.12 million Euro.
'GlücksSpirale' ('Lucky Spirals' – a seven digit numbers lottery) came in a downward spiral in 2001, although 66.84 million Euro in revenues is still a respectable score. However, revenues were down 12.76 million Euro compared with 2000.
The turnover of the GlücksSpirale in NRW nearly tripled since the introduction in 1970 from 22.86 million Euro to 66.84 million Euro in 2001. This virtual explosive growth should be put in perspective. In 1970 there were 7 drawings per year, from 1994 there was a weekly draw of GlücksSpirale and above that in 2000 the price of a lot was doubled to 5.10 Euro.
ODDSET sportsbetting was launched on February 1st, 2000, the year of the European football Championship, staged in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Sales revenues of the Auswahlwette (selection game) increased by 1.84 million Euro. Revenues of the Ergebniswette (results forecast game) decreased 0.71 million Euro. The toto-11 is at the end of its lifecycle. A new pool concept, rejuvenating the players' base, entered the market.
Revenues coming from RennQuintett (horse betting) back-pedaled 51,020.41 Euro. Horse betting with only one betting product does not attract the specialized horse bettors. RennQuintett was introduced on March 21st, 1971.
In April 200 Westlottos' instant games began operating under their new name 'RubbelZauber' (ScratchMagic). The scratchees broke the 51.02 million Euro record by 2.55 million Euro, registering a 13.27 million Euro increase in sales compared with 2001.
On April 17th, 2000 www.cyberlotto.de started. This new website of Westlotto created for adults living in NRW to be able to game via the Internet. The first virtual products were:
By mid-2001 CyberLotto.de customers could order tickets on line and pay either with their CyberLottoCard (a pre-paid card) or could transfer money to their online customer accounts.
And, around the same time CyberLotto.de and turkdunya.de made it possible that Turkish speaking gamers could get all the Lottery and betting information in their native language at turkdunya.de.
Technological advances play a key role in terms of both simplifying the process of betting as well as optimizing Westlotto's corporate strategy. The terminals that were introduced at their stores in 1997 are gradually being replaced with more advanced units. At the same time, preparations are being made to replace the central hardware and software systems, a project that will probably be realized by the end of 2004.
According to a press information of Wincor Nixdorf , dated November 8th, 2002, Wincor Nixdorf will equip all the lottery outlets of Germany's largest state lottery company, Westdeutsche Lotterie GmbH & Co. OHG (WestLotto), with 4,300 new Xion/Mtop terminals. At the same time, Wincor Nixdorf will also install the new Xiload download servers that allow software updates to be downloaded to the lottery terminals even during operation.
The remarkable features of Xion/Mtop include its compact external dimensions, the integrated high-performance scanner and the possibility of integrating other modules. Barcode, smart card and hybrid card readers, various drives and a branding module that can be used to mark and void canceled tickets are also available. Xion/ Mtop is part of Wincor Nixdorf's 'Intelligent Platform Concept' (IPC) product strategy that is based on a uniform system and software platform for all lottery products. Wincor Nixdorf is established in Paderborn, Münster in Nordrhein-Westfalen
The kick-off for the Lotto (6 out 49) was in Hamburg in October 9th, 1955, at 16.00 hrs precisely. Just 4 states were participating: Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Bayern and Nordrhein-Westfalen. The so called 'Nordwestblock'. 257.914 tickets were sold and the sales brought 515,828 DM (263.739 Euro). Nowadays the weekly turnover in Germany is 80 million Euro.
The Lotto-ticket cost then 50 Pfennig (26 Eurocent). From January 1st, 2002 one has to pay 0.75 Euro per 'Lottotipp'. It took till 1959, when the then 11 states of the former Bundesrepublik became member of the German Lotto and Toto Block. After the fall of the German Wall, when Germany became reunited, the ex-East 5 Lottery companies coming from the five new states became also member of the German Lotto and Toto Block.
The first drawing of the lotto numbers was an austere event, with only 30 onlookers. The very first numbered ball that came out off the rotating 'drum' was number 13!
In 1965 TV started to broadcast the drawing events. And, slowly, slowly the TV started to shape the betting industry into a showy entertainment industry.
On June 17th 1956 the 'Zusatzzahl' (reserve number) was introduced. The function of that 'back up' number was when no one had 6 numbers correct, the one with the five correct numbers AND the back up number, was then the winning number combination. Lotto was such a success that more and more players were participating, which led to more players with 6 correct numbers. Therefore an extra "Superzahl" (SuperNumber) was added to the 6 numbers 'Spitzenklasse Sechs Richtig,' which was launched only on December 7th, 1991.
The biggest paid out prize so far: 20,956,636.60 DM (EUR 10,714,958.15).
Lotto is the most popular betting product.
On November 1st, 1969 the Bundesländer decided to start with a lottery, to co-finance the 20th Olympic Summergames 1972 in Munich. This lottery was named Glücks-Spirale (Lucky Spiral) and the ARD and ZDF, Public Broadcasters, were supporting and promoting this lottery initiative.
The German Lottery organizations were already operating the 'Olympia Lotterie' since 1967. The Olympia Lotterie was organized as a Lotto type product 'Zusatzspiel'. The combined Lotteries organizations guaranteed proceeds from the ticket sales of the amount of 250 million DM (1,278 million Euro). However, this amount was not met in 1972 and the Olympia Lotterie operation was prolonged till 1974, the year of the World Football Championship in Germany.
Also the GlücksSpirale operating time was extended and the surplus of the operation was used for the (re)construction of the stadiums and the lay out off the infrastructure.
After a stop of one year in 1976 the Glücks-Spirale was relaunched. The yields were remitted to Sports and Culture activities. In 1991 the 'Stiftung Denkmalschutz' (Foundation Monuments Care) became the third beneficiary.
From 1970 till 1990 the GlücksSpirale was operated only four months per year. In between 1970 and 1974 in the first half of every year and from 1976 till 1990 in the second half of the year. From 1991 the GlücksSpirale was offered the whole year round.
The first TV lottery was 'broadcast' in 1956, when there existed 393.000 TV receivers. Main prize: 100,000 DM (51,020.41 Euro). And, the good cause was to offer children from Berlin revitalizing holidays in Germany.
The GlücksSpirale has been, in the course of years, the centre stage of surrounding TV show programmes. First produced by successively ARD, ZDF (both public broadcasters) and later by the commercial TV company Sat1.
At the prolongation of the Lottery License on September 28th, 1976, it was laid down that minimal 25% of the total sales should be donated to the good causes. This was altered in 1989 to 31 1/3% and from 1991 it was fixed at 28 1/3%
The law, 'Gesetz über die Zulassung öffentlicher Spielbanken im Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (Spielbankgesetz NW -SpielbG the Spielbank Hohensyburg in Dortmund NW-)', on the public casinos in NRW came (since 1985) and the new Spielkasino in into force from March 19th, 1974, (GV. NW. Duisburg.S. 93), was altered for the last time by the law of November 6th, 1984 (GV. NW S. 663).
In the NRW area only 4 casinos are allowed to operate and the Ministry of Interior has the exclusive right to give out those licenses. The license is valid for a period of ten year and, if requested, the license may be prolonged. The State Nordrhein Westfalen is not allowed to take any share in casinos.
The casinos have to remit 80% of the revenues to the State NRW.
The Ministry of Interior can in close consultation with the Ministry of Finance decide that for a certain period the remittance is 65%.
The casino operator is released to pay casino-business related taxes.
The supervision is in the hands of the Ministry of Interior, and when it concerns casino financial matters the Finance Ministry should agree as well.
The Westdeutsche Spielbanken GmbH & Co. KG (WS) established in Münster – a subsidiary of WestLB – was founded in 1974, on grounds of the law 'Gesetz über die Zulassung öffentlicher Spielbanken im Land Nordrhein-Westfalen' (see above) concerning the permittance of establishing public casinos in the Land NRW. WS owns since 1975 the licenses to operate the International Spielkasino Aachen (since 1976), the Spielkasino Bad Oeynhausen (since 1980).