Sports betting and gamification on WLA’s radar says Andreas Kötter, WLA President
Sports is a big business, and while it may not be front-and-centre in the realm of lotteries it is an increasingly important component of the wider sector, with many state and regional lottery providers also maintaining a sports betting product.
In fact, more than half of the members of the World Lottery Association (WLA), as the organisation itself noted in its latest magazine. This has led to WLA leadership focusing more and more on how lotteries can play a role in protecting sports integrity.
“Our vision is to be recognised as the global lottery and sports betting authority that supports its members in contributing to society,” said Andreas Kötter, WLA President. “We are moving full steam ahead to deliver several different strategy initiatives that will help us to achieve this.”
As stated above, countless government-owned lotteries operate a sports betting product, examples including the monopolies of Norsk Tipping and Veikkaus Oy in Finland, OPAP in Greece and examples of both state and provincial lotteries in the US and Canada.
The lotteries themselves are not the only stakeholders. B2B solutions developers like Kambi and EveryMatrix also provide sports betting platforms to these lotteries, underpinning the very foundation of their sportsbook product.
As the betting sector expands globally, multiple stakeholders including lotteries are keen to get in on the action – this can be seen in Brazil, where state and municipal lotteries are launching sports betting products in the wake of the country’ launching a new regulated market on 1 January.
With this expansion comes concerns about the impact of betting on sports integrity, and the susceptibility of some athletes – particularly those in the lower leagues of sports – to criminal pressure and match manipulation.
“In 2014, the Council of Europe established the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, also known as the Macolin Convention,” Kötter said.
“The WLA was instru-mental in drafting the initial version, which was finalised through the collaboration of over fifty states worldwide.
“Our position is clear and aligned with the Macolin Convention and its definition of legal and illegal gaming. We have embedded it in our Code of Conduct.”
Cross-sector collaboration
Sports like football, tennis and table tennis routinely rank among the most targeted for match manipulation according to organisations like the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).
A similar organisation to the IBIA is the United Lotteries for Integrity in Sports (ULIS), which recently partnered with France’s Ligue 1 in a notable case of integrity-focused cross-sector collaboration.
The WLA has made working with organisations such as these a priority, while also establishing its own integrity task force, the Betting Integrity on Sports and Horse Racing Committee (BISHRC).
“The work of this Committee has never been more important given that over half of our lottery members now offer sports betting. These types of illicit activities jeopardise our industry’s reputation and require a concerted effort to tackle,” Kötter explained.
Sports integrity is not the only challenge on the WLA’s radar, however, with the body’s President adding that the incorporation of gaming elements into lotteries’ portfolios, such as digital scratch cards, is also on its radar – particularly the potential for these games to become ‘highly addictive’.
https://lotterydaily.com/2025/04/15/highlighted/wla-president-betting/