2 Oct 2015 07:00
2 October 2015
DJI Holdings plc
("DJI" or the "Company")
Authorisation of Sports Lottery mobile sales trial in Qingdao City
DJI Holdings plc (AIM: DJI, "the Group", "DJI"), a licensed promoter and distributor of Chinese sports and welfare lottery products to third party retailers and direct to consumers, is pleased to announce that its 50% held joint venture, Qingdao Baifa Network Science Technology Service Co. Limited, has been authorised to commence a trial of sales of Sports Lottery products via mobile phones in Qingdao City in Shandong Province.
Commencing with immediate effect, the trial of this approved mobile app is expected to generate revenues for DJI during October 2015. Upon a successful implementation of the trial, the group hopes to extend mobile sales throughout the remainder of the province.
The joint venture's mobile app provides access to a number of Sports Lottery games including Big Lotto, China's most popular Sports Lottery draw game, ten different digital scratch cards and sports betting games Jingcai and Zucai.
Qingdao City has a population of approximately nine million people and is one of the two major cities in Shandong Province, which in turn has a population of 90 million and contributes almost 10% of total nationwide Sports Lottery sales.
Qingdao Baifa Network Science Technology Service Co. Limited will utilise DJI's exclusive Chinese lottery relationships with both Arsenal and Manchester City football clubs to promote and support the mobile app. These partnerships enable DJI to further grow its footprint by leveraging a range of soccer club-related rights in China, offering lottery players unique and exclusive tailored content.
Commenting on this significant development for DJI, Chief Executive Darren Mercer said:
"I am delighted that, despite the continuing suspension of online sales of lottery products in China, we now have an opportunity to recommence sales in a new area and utilise both our unique soccer club resources and sales channel partners to maximise this opportunity.
"The popularity of lottery products based around soccer was growing in excess of 200% year-on-year prior to the suspension of online sales. We believe that a full roll out of the mobile app throughout Shandong, together with our unique positioning and promotional offers based on soccer, will quickly generate significant lottery revenues."
ENDS
For further information please contact:
DJI Holdings plc | +44 (0) 1565 872990 |
Darren Mercer, Group Chief Executive | |
IHA Consulting | +44 (0) 20 3393 1185 |
Stephen Benzikie | |
Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated & Financial Adviser) | +44 (0) 20 7409 3494
|
Andrew Emmott / Ritchie Balmer
Mirabaud Securities LLP (Broker to DJI) |
+44 (0) 20 7878 3362 |
Peter Krens |
Notes to Editors
DJI's strategy is to capitalise on the rapidly expanding Chinese lottery market and the opportunity to deliver lottery ticket fulfilment sales to its substantial client base of large Chinese corporations (B2B) and individual consumers via the Group's owned and operated websites (B2C), within the online and mobile environment.
Through the Group's long-standing relationships with the Chinese regulators, portfolio of lottery contracts and reliable technology platform, the Group is well positioned to capture the market opportunity.
The principal activities of the Group are the development, promotion and distribution of authorised lottery products in China. DJI's subsidiaries are licensed and/or contractually authorised to distribute and promote Sports and Welfare lottery products online, via mobile and through physical retail outlets across China.
The Group has a differentiated approach to the Chinese lottery market in that DJI operates throughout the promotion and distribution value chain. The Group offers:
· front-end lottery ticket sales via websites owned and operated by the Group, third party websites, mobile applications and physical retail outlets
· back-office lottery ticket fulfilment services to large online and offline lottery partners
Beyond the Group's lottery activities, DJI has a joint venture with the Heilongjiang Provincial Sports Bureau (HSB) to provide support services to all of HSB's commercial activities. These include football and winter sports in the province, including China's largest ski resort, Yabuli.
The HSB joint venture includes, for the first time in a Chinese province, a Business-to-Business (B2B) online booking system for sports, based on DJI's technology. The JV has agreed terms with three of China's largest online portals to sell and promote this B2B system from 1 November 2015.