Who wants to be a Millionaire? Lonaci’s latest game has caught the nation’s imagination.

Apart from the Ivory Coast’s national investment bank (Caisse Autonome d’Amortissement), another public institution that plays an important social role is the national lottery (Lonaci). While 55% of the 3 billion CFA francs in annual turnover goes to the winners, the rest, after covering operating expenses, is devoted to projects such as building schools, health centers, maternity homes and recreational facilities. Lonaci also subsidizes programs providing medicines.

Officials at Lonaci stress that the company’s social contribution is one of the main reasons for its success. “The public knows that if they don’t win when they play, they still gain from the social actions we undertake,” they say. Hence the lottery’s slogan “the prizes for the players, the benefits for the whole community.”
The state owns 80% of Lonaci shares, 15% belongs to the National Social Security Fund and 5% is employee-owned. Lonaci is one of the most successful enterprises in the Ivory Coast and is rapidly expanding to the hundreds of kiosks it manages across the nation.

Lonaci is currently looking at ways to offer its games on-line

Lonaci has grown rapidly over the past decade thanks to intensive publicity campaigns and the regular launching of new games, which mean new ways to win money. One of the most successful is Millionaire, based on the spin of a wheel of fortune and which is broadcast live on national television.
The success of Millionaire sparked the launch shortly afterwards of a similar game with a familiar name, Super-Millionaire, which offers more winnings and trips to exotic destinations throughout the African continent.
Another popular game is Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), which tests bettors’ skills at picking the results of horse races. The Ivory Coast lottery is the only one in sub-Saharan Africa that has a PMU system using information technology. Elsewhere the process is all done by hand. Currently, the company is working to expand on its leadership in the technology field by offering its games on-line.