December 2017 will mark the start of 25th anniversary celebrations at Olifėja, Lithuania’s biggest lottery company. As a lottery operator, Olifėja directly allocates 8 percent of the value of every ticket it sells to support sporting activities. Over 25 years, that has amounted to 62 million euros. Another 403 million euros went to pay the winnings of lottery participants in the same period, and almost 5,000 cars won in lotteries now drive the streets of Lithuania.
A key part of Olifėja’s celebrations will be especially abundant prizes for lottery participants. Throughout December, Teleloto participants will share 5,000 anniversary prizes and compete for an apartment in the centre of Vilnius as well as 30 special sport utility vehicles. The Vikinglotto and Eurojackpot top prize funds, meanwhile, will be in the millions.
“The best part of celebrating is sharing joy with those around us. Without lottery participants, there would be no Olifėja or the support for sport which is so needed. That’s why we’ve prepared an especially large number of prizes for the anniversary month,” says Antanas Muraška, the CEO of Olifėja. “In coming months we’ll try to share the story of Lithuania’s lotteries, also spreading the word about the long-term impact of our support for sport and the Olympic Movement in the country. After all, every participant in our games is an important part of that story,” he says.
The history of the company and the local lottery market is featured on Olifėja’s website along with an analysis of sponsorship for sport. Also on the website, for the first time, is a map of lottery winnings. It shows which Lithuanian cities and towns had the most winnings over the last 25 years and which ones were ahead in specific years. The map includes practically all the country’s cities and towns that have Perlas terminals.
“Luck is part of playing the lottery, something you can’t forecast. One person wins now, others may be lucky later. Looking at the results for different years, the distribution of winnings by cities changes and fluctuates,” Olifėja’s Deputy CEO Donatas Kazlauskas says of the results shown on the map, adding: “If in Olifėja’s first 25 years there were more winnings in some cities and towns, it’s likely that over the next 25 years luck will smile on the residents of other places. Of course, the frequency of winnings also depends on lottery participation. More is won in places where people play more.”
