Lotto Fetes 50th, With Changes Afoot

Millions of Germans anxiously tune into the Lotto drawings on Saturdays and Wednesdays. They don't want to miss hearing the six numbers that determine who will be the country's next instant millionaire.

Since the game was created, 50 years ago this week, countless Germans have seen a dream come true -- although for many of them, extreme wealth became a curse rather than a blessing.

At first, the lucky numbers for televised Lotto drawings were picked by hand, but eventually that quaint custom made way for today's high-tech rotating drum that shoots out plastic balls with numbers printed on them.

The odds of picking six winning numbers out of 49 may be extremely long -- around 1.4 million to one -- but the genius of the game was that it takes virtually no skill or knowledge, and a very small investment, to play.

Big business

Today, Germans spend more than five billion euros ($6 billion) each year on Lotto. In 2004 they spent a total of 30 billion euros on get-rich-quick gambling games like Lotto, roulette, and slot machines.

"Half the adults in Germany gamble regularly," Tilmann Becker, leader of the newly created Gambling Research Center at the University of Hohenheim told Capital magazine recently.

The demand for a quick financial fix is so strong that despite competition from Internet gambling companies, which offer much better odds, Lotto and its concurrent Toto were able to increase its sales in 2004 by two percent.

Meanwhile, the ongoing debate over the possible liberalization of gambling within the European Union has flared up once again. One of the questions to be settled in the coming months by the European parliament is whether gambling should be regulated as a service industry.

In a few weeks, the European Union will publish a study comparing gambling regulations across member states. The study will also advise the EU on the possibility of opening its gambling markets, which are currently state regulated.

A haven for money launderers?

In the run up to its publication, bookmakers -- anxious for the markets to open -- have been bombarding the European commission with complaints, according to the Oliver Drewes, spokesman for the Internal Markets Commission. Moreover, several states have ongoing lawsuits against state-run gambling monopolies.

Naturally, industry representatives are warning against lifting the monopoly. The ensuing competition would undoubtedly create "gambling grey zones" that are difficult to oversee, according to Winfried Wortmann, head of Germany's Westlotto company and chairman of the board of the European Lottery Association. Given the sums of money involved, this would be "dangerous," Wortmann said.

The fear is that large sums of money without government oversight would be channeled off for use by criminals and money launderers.

While opponents of liberalization argued that ending the state monopoly would remove a source of money that should rightfully go to state coffers, proponents said that structure is no longer up to date. European parliamentarian Joachim Würmeling from Germany said free competition is best for the citizens, because they can choose which games offer the best odds anywhere in Europe.