Luxembourg Gambling Industry Generates 100 Million Euros in 2012

Luxembourg gambling laws are pretty strict on not allowing almost any games of chance besides the national lottery in this country of half a million people.

Taking into account the size of the country, a revenue of EUR 100.3 million from gambling is quite remarkable. Considering that Luxembourg tops the World Bank list of countries with the highest GDP, the result becomes slightly less impressive, but nevertheless significant.

As reported by local gambling monopoly Loterie Nationale, the company generated precisely that much gross gaming revenue in 2012, and paid to players EUR 53.8 million from that amount. The figures are nearly identical to those in the previous year.

“The deepening crisis has not affected our business. We observed neither a freefall nor an increase. Some say that in times of crisis people gamble more, but this is not necessarily true,” said company Director, Leon Losch.

(It could be the case that they simply bet more through online and mobile casinos based abroad, we may add.)

The greatest contributor to the above revenues was the Euro Million lottery, growing 4.1% to EUR 19.5 million. One of the biggest losers on the other hand was Zubito, a type of instant lottery game, with revenues plummeting by 10.3%, to EUR 6.9 million.

“After ten years, Zubito is experiencing a little fatigue. We have started reviewing the animations and changing the equipment, but there is also unfair competition in cafes where there are machines with games that aren’t always legal,” claimed the head of the company.

Finally, although it is illegal to bet on sports in Luxembourg, horse racing is a different matter. Loterie Nationale runs this type of betting in cooperation with France’s PMU, allowing fans to bet on races across the world at PMU’s local points of sale.

Launched in March 2012, this business has yielded EUR 450,000 revenue in a year. It is a rather subdued start, but the whole channel is still new.

“The goals have been achieved,” said Losch, adding that the company wants “to have 50 PMU outlets by the end of the year, compared to the current 35.