Soon after the advent of the internet, computer engineer Mike Veverka decided to quit his day job and start working on business ideas to utilise this exciting new online space. He started an e-commerce business in 1995, and five years later, when the big dotcom boom hit the world, listed it on the ASX. Around that time, the Australian Government changed its laws to allow the online sale of lotteries, and Mike was quick to realise that this presented a huge opportunity.
“We were selling lots of different things on the internet, but it became quickly apparent that lotteries were the type of product that was perfect for the internet,” Mike says. “Other products needed delivery fees, warehousing, and so forth, while lotteries didn’t need any of that. It is a virtual product, and on top of that it is very regular. People buy tickets every week, so we just kept on adapting our software giving people what they wanted. The more we focused on lotteries, the more we expanded. We started with basically no revenues, and today we are over $100 million in sales.”
Mike’s visionary thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and innovative approach have led to the success of Jumbo Interactive in Australia, Germany, and North America. The business works by having official agreements with authorised local lottery organisations and then providing customers with a secure online distribution channel to purchase game tickets. According to Mike, the worldwide lottery market is worth approximately $250 billion, and less than 1 per cent of that is online. Some countries, such as Australia, already have 10 per cent of sales via the internet, while parts of Europe are up to 30 per cent. Mike hopes that those statistics will continue to grow, with Jumbo Interactive leading the way.