Lottoland CFO: Firm faces “no real competition” amid lack of industry innovation
Jon Hale champions company’s market position and claims lottery betting is the most innovative product since betting exchanges
Lottoland chief financial officer (CFO) Jon Hale has claimed the Gibraltar-based operator faces “no real competition” as he criticised the gambling industry over a lack of innovation.
Speaking as part of an in-house interview series, Hale noted Lottoland’s dominance in the betting-on-lottery segment and argued while some smaller operators may exist, these firms posed little threat.
Touching on the privately owned business’ position in the market, Hale said: “There is no real competition, and that is one of the beauties of having a unique product. It has high barriers to entry, not everyone can afford the insurance premiums that we pay to be able to offer those jackpots.
“You need to have a business of quite some size before you can negotiate those insurance deals so as a result, we don’t really have any direct competition.
“There are some small operators out there but nothing of the size of Lottoland,” he added.
Hale went on to remark on the lack of innovation in the gambling sector, arguing the betting-on-lottery product was one of the biggest game changers in the last two decades.
He said: “The product allows [Lottoland] to position itself well away from competitors. It seems to be a very crowded marketplace with no innovation in the market.
“The last time I saw something as innovative as the lotto betting product was Betfair’s betting exchange,” he added.
Hale has served as Lottoland CFO since June 2021, having previously spent more than 11 years as 32Red’s CFO.
Elsewhere, Lottoland made two senior appointments in H1 with the hires of Mike Kirwan as its new VP of UK and Ireland and former Mr Green head of legal Antonio Torralba Villaverde as the operator’s new VP of legal.