SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC), the lottery operator of four Canadian provinces (Nova Scotia, Brunswick, Newfoundland & Prince Edward Island) has been criticised by Canadian politicians and media regarding its $8.7 million investment in UK lottery start-up Geonomics.
This week ALC governance had announced that it would write down its investment in Geonomics following the company’s failure to progress UK location based lottery game Geolotto. ALC had been downcast regarding Geonomics performance following several product revamps, and a lack of UK consumer uptake in the GeoLotto product following increased marketing spend.
The failed investment has been slammed by New Brunswick Democrat leader Dominic Cardy, who criticised ALC of misusing province lottery generated funds to supply outside business investments.
“You can’t just take and spend and lose millions of dollars and have there be no consequences,” said Cardy.
“I don’t know what those consequences should be because we don’t know the details. What I’d love to see is that investigation so we can get to the bottom of this.”
ALC had invested in Geonomics in 2010, as a principal investor to Founder Brothers James and Henry Oakes who at the time were graduate business novices. The firms Geolotto product had been touted as a new lottery for the “Facebook Generation” by its founders.
This week ALC countered the criticism of its investment, by stating that at the time its decision to fund Geonomics had undertaken rigorous scrutiny and deliberation. However ALC governance has stated that it believes there is little chance of recovering any investment, the lottery operator added that at present its $8.7 million investment was likely worthless.
