Independent operator Lottoland offers a different way to play the lottery, and uses popular UK tv host Chris Tarrant to promote their site.

An independent lottery company is shaking up the big lotteries with a unique way of playing lottery around the world, and you don't even have to buy tickets.

It's working because the traditional lottery businesses are being attacked by outsiders that provide players with other ways to get involved in the lottery.

Lotteries are big business, making more money than cinema or video games.

And the concept is growing. According to Lottoland, a UK betting operator, everyone from small startups to the big players in the online gaming industry in Europe are trying to get a piece of the lotto pie.

And that pie is potentially huge, since the lottery industry is by far the most lucrative industry in gambling and one of the most profitable markets in the world.

Lotteries are making more money than cinema, video games, professional sport and even porn. 

There are a few different business models so the new boys don't have to compete directly with the traditional lotteries:

Resellers
Some are ticket resellers - they buy up official tickets and resell them online at a premium price, particularly to those wishing to buy tickets last minute or play from overseas. The Lotter is one of several businesses which do this.

Syndicates
Other groups focus on promoting lottery syndicates. They offer entry into multiple online group lottery tickets. It essentially works the same as if you were in a lottery syndicate with your colleagues from work - everyone pools their tickets improving your chances of winning, but equally dividing the prize between everyone when you win.

This group of Tesco shop workers won £3.6 million in a syndicate.

Many players prefer to improve their chances of winning in this manner, so those websites offering syndicate play fill this demand. 

The Silver Lotto System has a popular syndicate called Winner's Circle which follows the same principle.

Lottery Betting
The most profitable model however is offering bets on lottery results. Often skating close to the line of legality, the betting company simply offers bets on the results to players at the same price as an official lottery ticket, but without any costly expenditures of running a lotto.

For the players it works out exactly the same as buying a lottery ticket from the store. In fact LottoLand say they often get an even better deal than they would playing offline. They find them both from special promotions not offered by the national lotteries and the power of comparative shopping.

For example, if the jackpot in one country is low one week, online lottery players at websites like Lottoland can find another country where it is currently high, and place their bet on that prize instead.

Some countries also offer cheaper tickets, so if players living in a relatively expensive country like the UK or Germany can take advantage of savings from playing Polish Lotto.

A lottery store in Poland.

The real losers in this are the national lottery themselves, who are seeing their monopolies and profits eroded away by foreign operators. 

ABOUT: Lottoland is a Gibraltar-based startup with a UK license and has a former UK gameshow host, Chris Tarrant, as their celebrity sponsor. Lottoland say they are perhaps the most successful adopters of the 'betting model' providing players from an expanding number of countries with the chance to wager on lottery results.

SOURCE: Sumita Saha