ROMANIA the long road to integration Interview with Mr. Nicolae Cristea, General Director Read our exclusive interview LOTERIA ROMANA (ROMANIA NATIONAL LOTTERY) Mr. Nicolae Cristea, General Director Contact: Compania Nationala Loteria Romana Calea Victoriei, 9 Sector 3 Bucharest - ROMANIA Tel: +40 (1) 312 10 19 / 311 31 53 Fax: +40 (1) 311 00 35 Email: General Director: mail@loto.ro Historical landmarks 1906 King Charles I promulgated the Law on setting up a fund for peasants' health assistance and for creating a class lottery. 1931 The Law on setting up the State Class Lottery for public health and social assistance came into force. 1931 The State Lottery Administration was set up (R.L.S.) 1934 The Law on organizing the operation and management of the State Class Lottery for public health and social assistance came into force. 1944 The Regulations for the implementation of the law on organizing the operation and management of the State Class Lottery for public health and social assistance came into force. 1947 "Official Collector" was founded (1731 Decree). 1948 Toto competition was approved 1949 Gambling systems were tested: Central Loto, Popular Lottery, Our 3/90 Lottery (number lotteries) having unique values all over the country. 1950 The State Lottery was empowered by the finance Ministry to organize lotteries named Loto. 1954 The State Lottery Company, Toto Company were founded as well as the weekly Toto Program. 1955 Peasants' Lottery, Break-Off Ticket were launched 1958 Setting up by merging of the State Company for lotteries and sports forecasting. The weekly "Loto-Pronosport Program" (sports forecasting) was published. 1958 First drawing of "Pronoexpres" 6/49 (number lotteries). 1966 Loto Pronosport State Administration setting up through reorganization. 1991 "Independent Authority of Lotteries and Sports Forecasting in Romania" was set up (RALPS). 1993 Automatization of gambling systems in "off-line" system. 1994 "The Independent Authority of the National Lottery" was set up under Government Decision number 816. 1999 The Romanian Government approved the Order regarding the setting up of the National Company "Romanian Lottery" S.A. Gaming Systems TRADITIONAL GAMES LOTO SPECIAL 6/49 Type of game: Number lottery Game field: Number 1 to 49 How to play: - Simple variants (6numbers out of designated field). Combined variants (minimum of 7 numbers, maximum of 46). Composed combined variants. Reduced schemes for combined variants. Reduced schemes for composed variants. NOROC Type of game: Number lottery of the "winning number" type. Game field: Numbers of 7 digits, from 0000000 to 9999999. How to play: The game is played on the Loto 6/49 game tickets. The 7-digits numbers are not picked by the player but generated at random. A maximum of 64,000 such numbers can be played. SUPER LOTO 5/40 Type of game: Number lottery. Game field: Numbers 1 to 40. How to play: - Simple variants - 5 different numbers from 1 to 40. - Combined variants - minimum of 6 numbers, maximum of 40. - Combined composed variants - 5 number variants made up of "partial" variants of fewer than 5 numbers. - Reduced schemes for combined variants. EXPRES 5/55 Type of game: Number lottery. Game field: Number 1 to 55 How to play: - Simple variants - five different numbers from 1 to 55. - Combined variants - minimum of 6 numbers, maximum of 55. - Composed combined variants - variants of 5 numbers are formed by combining "partial" variants of fewer than 5 numbers. - "Bridgehead" combinations - all variants played contain the same 4 numbers picked as basis, while the position of the fifth number is filled in turn with each number of the remaining 51. - Reduced schemes for combined variants. PRONOSPORT Type of game: - 13 soccer games, each with three possible results - "1" for the victory of the home team, "X" for a tie, "2" for victory of visiting team. How to play: - Simple variants - one prognostic for each of the 13 games. - Combined variants - at least one double prognostic, a maximum of 13 triple prognostic. - Predefined reduced schemes - for options "1" and "2". BET TRIO Type of game: Pari-mutuel bet. Game field: The contest numbers of the horses participating in the race, in principle a minimum of 12 and maximum of 20. How to play: - Simple bets - three horses in a reduced formula. - Combined bets - minimum four horses in either a complete or reduced formula. - "Bridgehead" combinations - one or two horses as basis, and maximum 17 horses selected in turn. INSTANT LOTTERY Type of game: Instant lottery with scratch-it tickets. Game basis: Winning and non-winning game tickets, of the "losbrief" type or for the "scratch-it" type (covered with a layer of latex), sold in wrappers or packages. Types of winnings: There are fixed prizes for each series of lottery tickets. The number of winning and non-winning tickets as well as the type of winnings are established from the very beginning through the scale of winnings of each type and series of instant lottery. The winning is determined on the spot by tearing the wrapper or scratching off the latex layer. NEW GAMES ONE O'CLOCK IS HERE Game of chance with predrawing (INSTANT) and direct participation of players within a TV competition-show. Participation tickets are INSTANT ticket type. Prizes in cash are obtained, instantly awarded, or the right to participate in TV drawing-shows. In the latter, the instant tickets turn into drawing participation tickets. Each drawing winning are announced in the TV competition-show. These can be cash prizes and/or goods winnings. Drawings take place every Sunday in a direct TV competition-show. SOLIDARITY LOTTERY "Passive lottery" tickets issue in which winnings pay-out is supposed following a public assisted drawing. Participation tickets are outlined by two printed numbers: a series number (000-499) and a 6 ticket number (000001-010000). The two numbers combination gives uniqueness to each ticket. The drawing takes place through the drawing-device and extractions are made on repeated ball, in several stages. Fixed prizes are awarded. The prize number and their values are printed on the participation tickets. SOLIDARITY LOTTERY Game brought out under the slogan "Help the neighbor in suffering" and was carried out under the auspices of the President of Romania. This lottery organization aimed at doing away with the consequences of the '99 spring floods. Infrastructures The Independent Authority of the National Lottery carries on its activities throughout the country in 41 branch offices, 1,351 private agencies, 514 franchises and a printing press. After 1990 and especially after 1993, new building along with the upgrading of old ones are some of the main concerns of National Lottery, with an eye toward aligning itself to the European standards. New administrative headquarters, branch offices and special agencies were added as the volume of its operation increased. All the departments and agencies of the Independent Authority of the National Lottery have new and modern equipment, such as high-performance computer systems, copiers and/or printing presses, while the points of sale in the network have modern operational equipment. The agencies have 2000 intelligent LT-1 terminals, functioning for the time being off-line and scheduled to become on-line system in the second half of the year 2000. Sponsorships In 1999, the National Lottery sponsored many projects in different domains such as socio-cultural, humanitarian, religious, physical culture and sports activities. HEALTH PROGRAMS The purchase of the state-of-the-art medical technology and disposable materials for several hospitals and non-governmental organizations such as Filantropia Hospital, Elias Hospital, Emergency Hospital, The Pneumo-Physiology Hospital, Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital, The "In Memoriam Carol Davila" Foundation. SOCIAL CULTURAL PROGRAMS Romanian Academy, National Foundation for Science and the Arts. HUMANITARIAN PROGRAMS Romtransplant Association "21 December 1989" Association Handicapped Association from Hunedoara District International Foundation for Charity, Reconciliation and Peace "Omenia" Romanian Communication Center "Excelsior" Foundation for supporting gifted children Romanian Foundation "The Generation of the Future" EDUCATION Inspector Office for Education, Bucharest Physics Faculty, Bucharest University SPORTS PROGRAMS Romanian Athletic Foundation F.C. National F.C. Dinamo U.F.C. Rapid F.C.M. Bacau Ceahltaul Piatra Neamt Jockey Club Romania Sports Association "Tineretul mediesean" International connections and collaborations ADHERING TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The Independent Authority of the National Lottery has been, since 1964, a full member of the "International Community of Lottery and Sports Contests Societies" INTERTOTO, of the "European Association of State Lotteries and Lottos" - AELLE, since 1991, and, since 1992, of the "International Association of State Lotteries" - AILE. Contacts and advantageous exchanges with many other lottery corporations worldwide have increased, and at the same time the National Lottery has taken active part in the international scene. PARTICIPATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL LIFE The open policy of the National Lottery regarding the dialogue and co-operation with other lotteries naturally implies the permanent exchange of information, signings of convention, collaborations and contracts. Since 1992, delegations of the Independent Authority of the National Lottery have taken part in all significant events in the domain of lotteries such as: the INTERTOTO Congresses in Hong Kong (1993), Perth (1995), Berlin (1997), the AELLE Congresses in Turkey (1993), The Netherlands (1995) and Portugal (1997). The Romanian Lottery hosted the AELLE Conference between 14-16 September 1998, attended by delegates from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Great Britain, United States of America and Sweden. Through coverage by the mass media of the problems discussed at the conference, as well as the opinions of AELLE officials expressed in press interviews, the desired impact upon Romanian public opinion occurred. It stressed the importance of the state monopoly of gaming activities in order to efficiently use the funds thus raised. To that effect, the conclusion clearly emerged that a more lenient legislation toward gaming activities would greatly benefit our entire society. In May 99 the Romanian Lottery representatives participated in AELLE Congress in Malta, in which the Association turned into European State Lotteries and Toto Association (E.L.) with a new statute and a new strategy. Between August 29-September 3, 1999 took place the AILE Congress in Oslo. On this occasion, World Lottery Association (WLA) was set up. Romanian Lottery participated as a full power member and voted for changing the statute, setting the strategy and the budget of new association. Income evolution for lottery games - MILLION LEI - Gaming system 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 PRONOSPORT 13,562 17,594 22,441 37,093 49,909 EXPRES 3,857 3,826 5,684 9,568 19,105 LOTO+NOROC 126,474 202,225 380,245 475,053 745,813 INSTANT LOTTERY 84,900 120,229 181,765 247,664 294,331 HORSES BETS - 345 6,358 7,906 8,288   Read on   © World INvestment NEws, 2000. This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Romania published in Forbes Global. July 24th 2000 Issue. Developed by AgenciaE.Tv