The world's biggest lotteries



GAMES of chance are risky, but as a source of revenue they are a safe bet. Global lottery sales rose by 7% to $275 billion last year, according to La Fleur's 2013 World Lottery Almanac. Lotto, a game where people pick numbers to match those drawn, is the world’s most popular form of lottery. Last year lotto sales raked in more than $110 billion, followed by scratch tickets at $76 billion. Europeans spend the most on lotteries of all sorts, at $113 billion. Italy’s Lottomatica is the world’s largest lottery operator. Like some of its counterparts it also runs sports betting (La Fleur's list includes revenue from all games that a lottery operator offers, which in several cases includes sports betting.) When Lottomatica’s sales are added with those of Sisal, the next largest Italian lottery, the average Italian spends around $480 annually. That plump sum is not nearly as high as the amount forked out by Singaporeans. The island-state’s 5m people spend about $1,000 each in the Singapore Pools.





Correction: An earlier version of this chart mislabelled the Greek lottery operator OPAP. This was corrected on May 30th. Sorry. An earlier version of this chart mislabelled the Greek lottery operator OPAP. This was corrected on May 30th. Sorry.