Version: 25082002
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.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is an independent sovereign state packed between Belgium, France and Germany. The world's only Grand Duchy encompasses the area of 2,586 square kilometers (999 square miles). The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was formed in 1815 by the agreement of the European powers at the Congress of Vienna. It was originally ruled by the King of The Netherlands but in 1890 it became completely independent and has had its own monarch ever since.
The current sovereign is Grand Duke Henri of the House of Nassau-Weilburg. Henri was born in 1955 and assumed power on October 7, 2000 when his father Grand Duke Jean abdicated in his favor.
Luxembourg and its capital Luxembourg were in the 50-ties well known throughout Europe by its commercial radio operations Radio (Lucky) Luxembourg (208) with its international music programs presented by the first disc jockeys in English, French and German language. Later the Grand Duchy played an important role in breaking up the national television broadcasting monopolies. German media company RTL with broadcasting interests in Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom used the liberal legislation in Luxembourg to start their successful international Radio and TV operations.
In the mini-state three different languages are used: Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language) and French (administrative language).
Luxembourg is a member of the European Union and has a free and thriving economic system. Its coalition government composed of the Christian Socialist and Democratic Parties promised after the parliamentary elections in June 1999 to decrease its already low corporate tax rate from 37.5 percent to 35 percent by 2004. With the direct taxation also scheduled to decline in 2002 and the corporate taxation for financial institutions slated not to exceed 30 percent the Grand Duchy presents both foreign and domestic investors with a very favorable business climate. Luxembourg's adjusted per capita income is the highest in the EU.
Luxembourg is a "financial fortress" at the heart of the European Union and is regularly accused of 'tax-dumping' and having rigorous banking secrecy. Banking is one of Luxembourg's largest industries. There are more than 200 international banks in Luxembourg which employ 10 percent of the country working force. As of June 1999 the banking industry accounted for one-fifth of GDP. Luxembourg is creating a legal infrastructure to accommodate e-commerce in order to maintain its predominance as an international finance center.
Establishing a business in Luxembourg is simple. Regulations are fair and transparent and are applied evenly in most cases. Businesses generally are free to operatewith minimal intrusion from the government. In response to the complaints of bureaucratic impediments to the establishment of new businesses, the government created a onestop-shopping system for business registration that applies to foreign and domestic enterprises alike.
The Luxembourg Stockexchange (www.bourse.lu) started on May 6th, 1929 and from April 21st, 1969, quotation of international bonds in the currency of issue was launched. The trading on gold was introduced on March 17th, 1981.
| Population: | 442,972 (July 2001) |
|---|---|
| Age Structure | 0-14 years: 18.91% (male 43,051; female 40,711) |
| Currency: | Euro (EUR) |
| GPD | $19.8 billion (2001) |
| Internet: | In terms of paying and non-paying users, the Internet penetration in Luxembourg has reached 22.86% in 2000 and 34.8% in April 2001. Internet users in Luxembourg spent an average of 7 hours and 40 minutes online in March 2001, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Men spent an average of 4 hours more online than women during the month. |
| Telecom | 215,741 mobile phones (2000) The country's telecom sector still largely fails to show competitive measures in place in 2002. The mobile market in Luxembourg consists of two main operators: Lux GSM from Luxembourg P&T and Tango. Alternative infrastructure was liberalized in 1997 followed by text and data with full liberalization in July 1998. |
The Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte was instituted by the Grand Ducal decree of 25 December 1944, a decree dated "Londres, Noël 1944" and signed by HRH the Grand Duchess Charlotte as well as by the members of the Luxembourg Government in Exile, at a moment when the von Rundstedt offensive at the end of World War 2, was in full swing, and the allied counter-offensive was just beginning to get into its stride.
Article 2 of the decree stipulates that the object of the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours was to provide assistance to Luxembourg's war victims in all cases where sufficient aid from the public authorities had not yet been organized or was not indicated.
The charity is a public establishment with a civil legal personality. The president of the Board of Administrators is appointed by the Grand Duke while the other members of the Board are appointed by the President of the Government.
Established by law, the Oeuvre National de Secours is invested with various public attributes:
Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte;
The starting capital of the charity came from a nation-wide subscription organized by the Grand Duchess with the authorization of the Government on the National Day, the 23rd of January 1945. On that day every Luxembourger with a job was invited to give a sum equivalent of one day's work for the benefit of Luxembourg war victims. The amount of 4,621,274.34 francs was collected. The day that HRH the Grand Duchess Charlotte returned from exile to the free city of Luxembourg, on the 14th of April 1945 the National Charity offered to decorate the Palace with flowers in the name of all who wished to subscribe to the collection. In twenty-four hours 280,806.80 francs were subscribed or donated.
Since then the charity has made no further public collections as its revenues, principally coming from the Loterie Nationale, proved sufficient.
The allocation of the charity's receipts has changed radically during the last fifty years. An individual help to victims of the war has, of course, diminished considerably with the passage of time; there are now only 145 monthly grants still being paid,, which represented an annual outlay of some eleven million francs for 1994. Today by far the largest proportion of the Œuvre's receipts go to other charities, as well as social and cultural philanthropies in Luxembourg.
One of the principal characteristics of the Oeuvre is its role as director and regulator of lotteries in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, its advice and consent being required for the authorization of any public lottery whose issued tickets will exceed a value of 2,478.93 euro (100,000 francs).
Subsequently, the authorizations are delivered either by the college of mayors and municipal magistrates (value of tickets to be issued cannot exceed 6197.34 euro (250,000 francs), or by the Ministry of Justice (over 6,197.34 euro or 250,000 francs). The national charity's judgement in this respect has been exercised to the satisfaction of the public and the public authorities alike.
The charity's positive role was confirmed in the course of the drafting and publication of the law of April 20, 1977 concerning the exploitation of games of chance and betting on sporting events and during the discussions and preparatory work for the law of July 30, 1983 which created a tax on the lotto.
It was in this legal framework that together with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours undertook the negotiations for granting authorizations to exploit the game of lotto in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to Sport-Toto GmbH Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland Sport-Toto GmbH (ministerial decrees of 17 May 1983 and 7 May 1984 and extensions).
The Oeuvre gave its consent on the condition that part of the receipts, between 7.5 and 9% depending on the amount of sales (that is to say the amount of the bets staked by the players) should be paid to the Oeuvre. These receipts appear in the charity's accounts as transitional receipts immediately allocated as follows:
Throughout the years of its existence the Oeuvre National de Secours has constituted a reserve fund intended to meet specific urgent needs for assistance and also to provide for an eventual decrease in its receipts.
In homage to its noble founder and in recognition and gratitude to the men and women of Luxembourg who were victims of the war of 1940-45, the Oeuvre has decided to pay the sum of ten million francs from this fund to the Fondation Nationale de Résistance.
Website: www.loterie.lu
The Loterie Nationale was created by the Grand Ducal decree of July 13th, 1945 which is stipulated here: "A Loterie Nationale is herewith created, the organization of which shall be entrusted to the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte"
The Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte has legal and civil personality by virtue of the Grand Ducal regulation of December 25, 1944. It is run by a board of administrators which is composed of 20 members. The daily management of the Loterie Nationale is delegated to the director.
The net product of the Loterie Nationale is currently distributed as follows:
Since its creation up to the end of 1984 there were only traditional lotteries with 12 annual draws.
As of April 1985 the instant lottery with immediate payments was introduced. It became so popular with the public that the traditional lottery was stopped at the end of 1997.
The Loterie Nationale currently offers five different games: "PICCOBELLO", "ASTRO", "ELO ! Spill a gewann", "EURO Pile Face" and 'Blackjack".
From its creation in 1945 until recently the sale of Loterie Nationale tickets was carried out by the postmen and employees of the P&T (Post and Telephone) with the support of around 350 sales outlets around the country in branches of banks, libraries, tobacconists and cafés. From 1995 the Loterie Nationale also installed distributors in cafés and supermarkets. Then in December 2001 the Loterie Nationale began installing online terminals throughout its distribution network in order to facilitate sales and improve the security checks on winning tickets.
At this moment Loterie Nationale Luxembourg assisted by QLot Consulting from Sweden is going through an important renovating process of its lottery products line. Therefore, the Loterie National signed on June 22, 2001 an agreement for an online system supplied by GTECH Corporation. The contract includes 150 on-line terminals and some 400 instant ticket validators connected to a dedicated central system located in GTECH's facility in Brussels, Belgium. The contract includes GTECH to operate and maintain the system during the 5 year contract term.
Above that the European Game & Entertainment Technology (EGET) Ltd Ab entered into an agreement with the Loterie Nationale in order to provide an Internet Gaming System allowing players in Luxembourg with the access over Internet a number of lottery games including some of the country's most popular scratch cards. The games will not involve money but will be offered as entertainment only.
As part of the contract extending throughout 2002 EGET provides its WinOne(tm) software but also develops channel specific games for the Lottery and offers facility management services by hosting and operating the system from its own secure facilities in Finland. The Lottery has the full control of the system and access to its resources remotely from its head quarter in Luxembourg.
"This is an important step that allows us to better comprehend our market. We expect to gain from this deal a valuable experience that will guide us in our future developments." says Léon Losch, Director of the Lottery. "EGET was able to provide us with the right solution to maximise our resources while maintaining the high quality and security we need to provide in Luxembourg".
The new Loterie Nationale's website (still under construction) will be in the French and English language.
At this moment the following five games are offered:
| Year: | 1999 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Net Sales: | 22,310,417.23 | 25,808,814.60 |
| Paid out prizemoney: | 11,452,437.91 | 13,388,449.15 |
| Good Causes Brute: | 10,857,979.32 | 12,420,365.44 |
| Commission sellers: | 1,608,782.87 | 1,837,156.91 |
| Miscellaneous Costs: | 1,766,259.14 | 2,347,556.69 |
| Good Causes Net: | 7,482,937.32 | 8,235,651.85 |
In Luxembourg there is only one casino located in Mondorf-les-Bains: "Casino 2000".