22 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025 Ireland 1992: The Inside story of a Bulk-Buying Scheme Lived Experience of a Lotto Game Buyout Ray Bates Honorary President of EL Former CEO of An Post Irish National Lottery Lottery Industry Consultant In light of recent developments in North America with Courier Services and bulk buying of US State Lottery games, and the attendant paper on the “WLA Position On Bulk Sales”, I thought it might be worthwhile reflecting on a personal experience I had some years ago that might provide a relevant and historically unique perspective on the subject of game buy-outs and, in passing, on the European versus North American approach to Lottery games. In 1992 the then Lotto 6/36 of the Irish National Lottery was the target of a buyout by a group of Irish gamblers/businessmen who shared a love of gambling and “beating the system”. The Proposition I was Lottery Director at the time and we had offered a special Lotto promotion of a guaranteed £100 for all Match 4 winners (odds of 299 to 1). The usual Match 4 prize was around £10, so this was a particularly attractive offering. The funding for the promotion came from unclaimed prize money – “giving the players the chance to win back their unclaimed prizes”. And, coincidentally, the Jackpot had rolled-over to be an estimated €1.5million +. PGRI Introduction: You may have seen the recent case in Texas where a “syndicate” bought up every remaining lottery ticket, calculating that the cost of doing so was less than the value of the winning tickets. Buying all the outstanding tickets ensured they would hold the winning ticket – effectively guaranteeing them a multi-million-dollar profit; or, at the very least, tilting the odds decisively in their favor. Within the lottery community, there is broad consensus that these Bulk-Purchase Syndicate schemes violate the spirit and the integrity of the game. Most agree that this practice undermines fairness, disadvantages everyday players, and erodes the public trust that is the backbone of lottery’s reputation. And yet, this is hardly a new phenomenon. As I learned in a conversation with my friend Ray Bates, these schemes have surfaced before. I asked him to share his own experience in dealing with it. And because Ray is an Irish storyteller, his reflections remind us that this issue is bigger than rules or payouts—it’s about values, vision, and what kind of lottery we want to st and for. Ray Bates was the Director of the Irish National Lottery from 1988 until his retirement in 2006. In 1995, Ray was elected President of the European State Lotteries and Toto Association, where he spearheaded the merger of two separate European associations into what became the European Lotteries (EL). In 1999, he was elected the first President of the newly unified EL, and in 2001 was named Honorary President in recognition of his contributions. Between 2001 and 2006, he also served on the executive committees of both EL and the World Lottery Association (WLA). Today, Ray continues to consult internationally for the lottery industry and supports EL’s educational initiatives including the EL Corporate University project. (see european-lotteries.org). Come to the EL Congress in Bern to see Ray moderate the presentation of EL advertising awards.
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