Version: 17062004
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.
Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia and borders with China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation and the Caspian Sea. With a territory of 2.7 million square the country is almost as large as the 15 countries of the European Union (which make up 3.2 million km2). There are 8,500 rivers and 48,000 big and small lakes in Kazakhstan. The presentation of Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan was held on June 10, 1998.
The National Lottery of Kazakhstan is a member of ESTLA (European State Lottery and Toto Association). And that justifies the production of a European Gaming and Lottery File on Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is known for the speed skate records on the Alma Ata speed skating ring, its vast steppes and desserts, the Russian Baikonur satellite launch facility, the President's (Nursultan Nazarbayev) meddling with the national and international chess and its mineral wealth (including gas and oil).
After the breakup of the USSR in December 1991, the Republic of Kazakhstan proclaimed itself a democratic, secular, legal and social state where the individual, his life, rights and freedoms prevail.
As a result of a strict monetary government policy, the country achieved a certain macroeconomic stabilization. The level of inflation in 1995 decreased to 160% against 1258% in 1994; the slump of the production of the gross internal product decreased to 8% against 25%. The budget deficit was 3% of the GDP. In 1995, the foreign trade balance was positive. The Kazakh economy slumped in 1998 with a 2% decline in GDP due to falling oil prices and the August financial crisis in Russia. The recovery of international oil prices in 1999, combined with a welltimed devaluation and a bumper grain harvest, pulled the economy out of recession in 2000.
| Population: | 16,763,795 (July 2003 est.) |
|---|---|
| Age Structure | 0-14 years: 25.4% (male 2,161,510; female 2,089,780) |
| Currency: | Tenge (KZT) |
| GPD | purchasing power parity:$120 billion (2002 est.) |
| Internet: | 250.000 Internet users in December 2002 |
| Telecom | In 1994 only seventeen of every 100 people in urban areas and 7.6 ofevery 100 people in rural areas had telephones. These figures wereabove average for Central Asia but lower than those for other CIScountries. Of the republic's total of about 2.2 million telephones,184,000 were located in Almaty. Current equipment is utilized at arate of 98 percent, leaving no room for expansion or new subscribers,although in 1992 the waiting list had about 1 million names. |
| Lottery Sales: | Per capita sales on lotteries: About 1 US dollar in 2000 |
Commonwealth of Independent States Kazakhstan is a member of the commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It consists of 12 of the 15 states of the former Soviet Union, excluded are the 3 Baltic States whom along with Georgia (it did later join in 1993) refused to join. They proclaimed to be wrongfully and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union in the fall of 1991 leaders of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement establishing the CIS.
On December 21, 1991, all the 11 leaders of the 15 Soviet Republics met in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan to sign the charter. It stated that all members were sovereign equal and thereby effectively abolishes the USSR with effect from December 31, 1991.
The headquarters of the CIS are in Minsk, Belarus. At present the CIS unites: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is more than a purely symbolic organization and possesses coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking and security.
In September 1993 the Heads of the CIS States signed an Agreement on the creation of Economic Union to form common economic space grounded on free movement of goods, services, labor force, capital; to elaborate coordinated monetary, tax, price, customs, external economic policy; to bring together methods of regulating economic activity and create favorable conditions for the development of direct production relations.
The most significant issue for the CIS is the establishment of a free trade zone, economic union between the member states, planned to become a reality in 2005. It has also promoted cooperation on democratization and cross-border crime.
The history of lotteries in Kazakhstan is closely linked to Russian history, because the first lotteries were organized in Kazakhstan in the Soviet era.
In 1698 Russian Emperor Peter the first signed a Decree to organize one of the first lotteries in Russia. However, after the 1917 revolution Vladimir Lenin put an end to lotteries, because he regarded them as a form of theft. The first Soviet lottery was held after World War II. Till 1970 there was only one lottery in the USSR, a classical lottery, where the prizes were drawn on the numbers of tickets. It was called "money-clothing lottery" and it was organized by the Ministries of Finance of all the Soviet Republics, including Kazakhstan. The lottery was not very popular. It wasn't advertised and drawings were irregular. In 1970, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Government allowed the Sports Committee to organize the lottery "Sportloto", which caused a real sensation. In the beginning it was a number lottery "6 from 49" and later "5 from 36". In 1976 the first instant lottery "Sprint" was launched and one could see the result immediately. Later in the middle of the 80-ties, "Sportprognoz" lottery was born, in which the players predicted the results of sports leagues. However, soon the players created a system, which made it possible to win almost always and the lottery was stopped and banned. For a while there was also another money-clothing lottery "DOSAAF". The Ministry of Income decided all the organizational matters like tickets prices, prize money and the general rules of the lottery.
After the disintegration of the USSR, lottery licenses were granted in Kazakhstan by the Cabinet of the Ministry of the Republic. Local executive bodies were responsible for the operation of local (regional, municipal) lotteries. Since 1999 the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan issues the lottery licenses (except state lotteries). The large-scale National (State) Lottery and 15 smaller private republican and regional lotteries compose the lottery market in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is the first republic of the CIS, which began to operate its National lottery. The decision to create the National lottery was accepted by the Government of the republic in the fall of 1996. And on November 18, 1996 the president of the republic issued a decree: "On measures of organizing and conducting of the National Lottery of the Republic of Kazakhstan."
This decree was inspired by several developments:
In order to change that situation and to give the people the opportunity to play "the honest game", the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan came up with a Decree, dated January 27, 1997 - 103 "On measures of realization of Direction of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan to establish the Status of the National Lottery and the Council for conducting and organizing the National Lottery of the Republic of Kazakhstan."
Then, in March 1997, the Council set up an executive body "Executive Directory for conducting and organizing of the National Lottery of the Republic of Kazakhstan", which started preparatory work for the launch of the National Lottery. At first, National Lottery prizes were tax-free, but in 2001 National Lottery winnings were subjected to a 15 percent tax, the same as in private lotteries.
Up to January 1, 2001 the National Lottery of Kazakhstan (NLK) had tax privileges. Later the situation changed and in present time the NLK, according to the new changes and additions into the New Taxation Code of the republic, has the following taxations:
The main tax legislation document "The Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on taxation and other obligatory payments into the budget (Tax Code) -209-II-, dated June, 12, 2001" (came into force in January 1, 2002).
Articles from the following code have been included: "Tax code of the republic of Kazakhstan".
Article 266. Taxation of Gambling Business Activities
Article 267. Taxation of Lottery Organization and Holding
Website: http://www.kazlotto.com
The National lottery of Kazakhstan (NLK) was launched on June 8, 1998.
The difference between the National Lotteries and a number of privately operated lotteries is that the revenue raised by the National Lottery is directed to a number of social projects specified in the 2030 Program by the President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Below are the sales statistics of the NLK (in million of Tenge)
| Products | 2001 | 2001 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instant | 762 | 857 | 610 |
| Loto 5/36 | 79 | 60 | 44 |
| Loto 6/40 | 11 | 13 | 25 |
| Pick-5 | 4 | 13 | 12 |
| TV Bingo | 1.885 | 1.718 | 1.235. |
| Altyn Adam* (passive) | 84 | ||
| Total: | 2.742 | 2.676 | 2.010 |
* 'Altyn Adam' was started in 2002 so there is no data available on earlier years.
The exchange rate of the Euro was 1 Euro to 181.65 Tenge (December 31, 2003. National Bank of Kazakhstan)
NLK began in June 1998 with the launch of instant lottery games.
During the whole period of activity it released 40 different instant games. With a price ranging from 30 to 100 Tenge.
The instant lottery game or scratch games "Nature of Kazakhstan", "Treasures of Kazakhstan", "Zodiac signs", "Fauna of Kazakhstan" and "Flora of Kazakhstan" had special success.
New 'Pick 5' scratch game
In an effort to bolster sales of its Pick-5 numbers game the National Lottery of the republic of Kazakhstan (NLK) issued a new instant scratch "Pick 5" game in june 2002.
Unfortunately, number games have failed to attract Kazakhstan lottery players and the "Pick 5" sales have proven, to say the least, to be disappointing.
According to Margarita Dolgikh, head of NLK's marketing Division Pick-5 sales during the first quarter of 2002 accounted for just 0.4% of the total lottery sales.
The new scratch game, which the lottery hopes will migrate players to the traditional Pick-5 game, features additional prizes and the ticket has a picture of 'Marzhan' the favorite presenter of the Pick-5, Loto 5/36 & Loto 6/40 drawings.
The odds for the new scratch game is 1:2,4 and there are six major prizes of 100 000 tenge. The ticket's price is 50 tenge. NLK has had 2,000,000 tickets printed.
Loto 5/36
Note: the amount of one million tenge is added to the winner of Jackpot in case this winner guesses the order of falling out the numbers, which is called Super Jack-Pot.
Loto 6/40
Note: the amount of five million Tenge is added to the winner of Jackpot in case this winner guesses the order of falling out the numbers.
Pick-5
The TV Bingo game has different kinds of drawings: the main drawing and several additional smaller drawings. The drawing is a part of a TV-Show.
Without any doubt, TV-Bingo is the favorite game of the Kazakhstanis. From the moment of the launch of the TV-Bingo, owned by the Swedish company "Pennan Consulting AB", it has been a great success for the NLK.
Every year the NLK is trying to introduce new and exciting games, in order to surprise players and give them a new 'feel-good' experience.
For example on March 8, 2002 there was the first drawing of an interactive instant - drawing lottery lottery 'Altyn Adam' ('Golden Man').
The game 'Altyn Adam' was aired on national TV. However, Kazakhstan's three time zones made it difficult for players to tune in, consequently, the hour long show began to lose viewers and was scrapped by the lottery late last year.
The ticket prize for 'Altyn Adam' was 60 Tenge. 'Altyn Adam' had a monthly drawing and its prize payout was 50%. Players could either win cash money or consumer goods.
For the first time NLK used an interactive connection with the players. Winners take part in the game at home via TV sets or live in the studio.
The tickets for this game 'Altyn Adam' were printed in Kazakhstan for the first time. This TV-Game was on the main TV-channel: ORT-Kazakhstan on 7:15 p.m.
On February 24, 2004 the NLK launched a new passive lottery game called 'MegaLot.'
MegaLot replaces the previous instant-passive game 'Altyn Adam.'
But given interest in passive lotteries remained high throughout the country, NLK decided to launch a new lottery game, but with the drawing period reduced to 15 minutes. Drawings are held every Tuesday and aired by the popular 'Khabar' TV Channel.
MegaLot was designed by Swedish firm Pennan Consulting AB. Pennan has been running its popular TV Bingo show in Kazakhstan for over four years now and, the show enjoys steady popularity among viewers/players.
The special feature of MegaLot is it's big jackpot and that a car can be won at each drawing.
The ticket price is affordable at 60 tenge. Nine figures are printed on the colored ticket. Five scores allow MegaLot winning.
On the holiday 'Nauryz' (Muslim New Year holiday, March 22) NLK held a special holiday Drawing 'Nauryz TV-Bingo', in which the players could win some 25 cars and large amounts of money (one million tenge).
NLK signed the contracts for the printing of new series of instant lotteries with 'NPM', a production company from the republic of Belarus.
The NLK is considering internet-lotteries but unfortunately, the number of Internet users in the country is a little bit more than 200 thousand, which is the most restraining factor for the NLK to start an Internet venture.
The situation also counts for the mobile phone call games. The potential number of players is simply not high enough.
The main goal of the NLK is to grow the interest of the population in number lotteries, LOTO games. LOTO games are very popular in countries all over the world, in Kazakhstan however LOTO is not so popular.
The table 'Sales Statistics' clearly shows this.
Besides the state lottery there is a network of private lottery companies. At this moment 15 lotteries are active. But in comparison to the National Lottery, they are very small organizations; all of them have a regional character and most of them are instant lotteries.
Source: National Lottery of Kazakhstan