Far East fillip for sports lottery company

DJI Holdings, the Cheshire company which promotes and distributes Chinese sports and welfare lottery products, has announced a major expansion of its key partnership in Shandong with the launch of mobile sales across one of China’s largest lottery markets.
 
Qingdao Baifa Network Science Technology Service Co Ltd, DJI’s 50% held joint venture, will collaborate with Shandong Sports Lottery, the lottery authority for Shandong Province, to promote the first Ministry of Finance approved mobile lottery sales app throughout the province.

Listed DJI will be responsible for developing and executing the marketing strategy for Qingdao Baifa and Shandong Sports Lottery.

The launch follows the successful implementation of DJI’s trials of Sports Lottery products via mobile phones in Shandong’s Qingdao City announced in October 2015.

It marks a major development and revenue opportunity for DJI while online sales of lottery products remain suspended in China.

Shandong, with 15 million lottery players, is a key market for DJI.  The province has the second highest sports lottery sales in China, an 11% market share totalling approximately £1.75bn in 2014, with mobile sales comprising 40% and rising. Its GDP is the third highest in China and mobile phone penetration is close to 90%.

DJI chief executive Darren Mercer said: “This is a major milestone for DJI in using its rich experience of channel marketing and English Premier League club resources to promote the Chinese lottery since the suspension of online sales 12 months ago.

“The opportunity to launch the only officially approved mobile lottery app in China’s second largest provincial lottery market is expected to make a substantially material impact on group revenues in the current financial year.
 
“The prospect of marketing a product that will allow millions of lottery players to take part online through their mobile phones is enormously exciting.

“We look forward to leveraging our exclusive football agreements and Qingdao Baifa’s rights to market through third parties to dramatically expand the promotion channels for Shandong’s sports lottery games.”