Belgian National Lottery unveils plans for Lottery Center chain

The Belgian National Lottery’s plans to start with its own retail chain are taking shape. The first stores, called Lottery Centers, will open in Antwerp, Ghent and Liège.

Stores all over the country

In July already, the National Lottery announced its plans to open its own stores. Now the state-run company has unveiled that these stores will be called Lottery Centers and that Antwerp, Ghent and Liège will get the first stores. Five other cities will also get such a store, however it is not yet know which ones.

Newspaper vendors are quite worried about the plans as they get a third of their turnover from the sale of lottery products and therefore fear the extra competition. According to the National Lottery, however, “sales are not the main purpose. The most important thing is that we enter into a dialogue with our players”, says spokeswoman Caroline Vangoidsenhoven in Belgian newspaper De Tijd. “They can go there to ask questions, but also get to know our charities or make a subsidy application.”

Sales may officially not be the main intention, but the stores will in fact sell scratch cards and other lottery games in the new chain. In addition, the National Lottery will also be trialling new products: “This way we can check whether it is worthwhile to distribute them to the other points of sale,” according to the spokeswoman.