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Cash Pot now in South Africa

Published:Sunday | October 4, 2020 | 12:07 AMNeville Graham - Business Reporter
Xesus Johnston, CEO of SVL Prime Sports.
Xesus Johnston, CEO of SVL Prime Sports.
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Gaming and lottery company Supreme Ventures Limited, SVL, has entered the South African market through partnership with a software company, which will distribute its most lucrative game, Cash Pot, in the country of around 59 million people.

It is Supreme Ventures’ first foray outside of the region and comes two years after its expansion into Guyana, a move the company said earlier this summer is still to start delivering positive returns.

The deal with Aardvark Software Limited provides SVL with access to 16 operators in South Africa and their networks of over 4,000 gaming terminals. Under the arrangement, the Cash Pot game draws began broadcasting live from Jamaica in South Africa on October 1.

Xesus Johnston, CEO of SVL subsidiary Prime Sports Betting, says Aardvark, a Lithuanian company, is a platform provider with a global reach to about 50 countries. He expects SVL to reach about 60 per cent of the South African market through the 16 operators.

“They will hear our live draw from Jamaica, and they will have access to bet on our numbers through the providers,” Johnston told the Financial Gleaner after the initial announcement of the partnership late Thursday.

Outside of that deal, SVL already has a relationship with Aardvark, which it said has been tech provider to new betting subsidiary Post to Post for five years.

Under their South African deal, SVL is selling broadcast rights to the Lithuanian company and getting a percentage of the net income from the bets under a revenue-share arrangement.

Supreme Ventures has no plans to enter the South African market directly. It sees the deal as opening up opportunities to expand its footprint further in that side of the world through its partner.

“What this means is that we can, working with Aardvark, easily expand into new markets,” Johnston said, adding that the move into the African continent is a right fit with markets that have similar likes and tastes, and, therefore, opens up opportunities for Supreme Ventures to grow subscriptions for gaming products that have done well in Jamaica.

In addition to Guyana and now South Africa, SVL has long offered a lottery game, Super Lotto, in several regional countries through partnerships. While the foreign début of other SVL products is under consideration, Cash Pot is the only one for now.

“This will be the first time that the South African market will actually see a gaming product that they can identify with culturally, not just in terms of the game, but in terms of the presenters. What they are seeing with Cash Pot are people they can identify with,” Johnston said.

He adds that as part of the simulcast arrangement, Prime Sports has trademarked all the meanings of the numbers used in the Cash Pot game.

The bulk of SVL’s “20 million” weekly unique transactions are from Cash Pot. Players have a one in 35 chance of winning the game which broadcasts six different daily draws. The cultural appeal lies in each number being ascribed a specific meaning that relates to everyday life, example, 32 represents gold, 31 is lizard, and 30 represents fish.

As to the potential size of the earnings from the arrangement, SVL said only that with Aardvark’s presence in multiple countries, there was scope for Cash Pot to become a big earner overseas.

“We are not saying anything about revenues at this point except to say that this is a great landing point, globally, for Supreme Ventures Group. It sets the tone for how we will be operating,” Johnston said.

Senior Business Reporter Steven Jackson contributed to this story.

neville.graham@gleanerjm.com