lottogopher news release very good LottoGopher Holdings Inc. (CSE:LOTO) (OTCQB:LTTGF) (FSE: 2LG) (“LottoGopher” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that pursuant to the April 29th Shareholders Meeting wherein all motions put forth, including the resolution approving the acquisition of Bravio Technologies Inc. (“Bravio”), were approved, Bravio has entered into an exclusive non-binding LOI with Global Blockchain Mining Corp. and Metaverse Capital (“FORK”, “GBCHF”).
The engagement permits the parties to approve binding terms (the “Heads of Terms”) and subsequently develop a state-of-the-art, blockchain-disciplined Cryptocurrency Payment and Asset Administration Platform (the “Platform”).
The Platform is intended to perform cryptocurrency payment processing and administrative functions for Bravio’s end-to-end foreign lotteries program, in which players from anywhere in the world can participate in lottery drawings that are deemed to be attractive based on jackpot size. Provisionally, the Platform will perform functions that include, but are not limited to sales, ticketing, deposits, payments, and rewards as part of Bravio’s existing lottery programs.
Once enhanced by FORK’s blockchain-based Platform, it is intended that, Bravio’s lottery ticketing program offers a new breed of domestic and foreign lottery player the option to purchase “original lottery tickets” in the world’s most well-known lotteries using cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin) for payment.
Its practices, once deployed, will align directly with those of recognized cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bravio’s existing lottery programs enable users in its key operating markets the option to participate in multiple foreign lottery draws, including “mega” jackpots such as the PowerBall in the United States and Lotto 6/49 in Canada. Through its arrangement with FORK for use of the Platform, the introduction of fractionalized ticketing is also to be contemplated. By offering fractionalized ticketing (i.e. the option to purchase 10% of a USD $2.00 ticket for USD $0.20) it will allow “affordable” entry for potential lottery players located within emerging or frontier markets, which overcomes this barrier to entry for most other providers in the lottery space.
With a strong presence in the markets of North America, Europe, India, Nepal, Asia Pacific and Australia, Bravio’s ecosystem has direct access to more than 260 million mobile phone subscribers through strategic partnerships with cellular network operators. Since 1999, more than three billion lottery plays have been made across Bravio’s combined lottery participation programs, making Bravio one of the world’s largest international online “real ticketing” lottery companies.
By incorporating the Platform into Bravio’s lottery program, Bravio will circumnavigate many of its competitors’ key barriers to entry, these barriers include but are not limited to security, compliance, consumer acquisition, payment processing, dissemination of funds/winnings, and procedural costs to enter a foreign lottery.
Lottery jackpots, particularly in the United States, have gained considerable worldwide attention in recent years. The drawings for the US Mega Millions lottery in 2018 were widely covered by media outlets as the jackpot accumulated to more than US $1.5 billion in total value. This attention has been sustained for several years in light of other substantial jackpots, with the five largest lottery jackpots of all time having been won in the past four years, including the 2016 Powerball jackpot, which was the largest in the world’s history at US $1.586 billion. Inevitably, interest from foreign players in participating in these lotteries has only grown, forming a need for solutions such as those offered by Bravio.
With blockchain and cryptocurrencies having ideal use cases in the digital betting sector, FORK’s development of the Platform represents its second stake in this vertical, following the announcement of its initial exchange offering administration agreement with sports betting platform MeVu (https://mevu.bet) last week for MeVu’s proprietary crypto asset MVU.
The integration of blockchain technology into Bravio’s lottery platform instantly adds a supreme level of security and transparency. Also offering a decentralized cryptocurrency payment gateway, the Platform will realize the full potential of Bravio’s multi-tenanted lottery ticketing system, and offer a more practical entry point for new potential lottery players throughout the markets in which Bravio operates.
Both parties believe that the use of the Platform stands to create significant value for FORK and Bravio shareholders alike. Presently, FORK anticipates it will retain around 40% of transaction fees collected by the proposed lottery ticketing Platform in connection with Bravio’s lottery program offerings.
Notably, the Platform will allow Bravio to accept payments made through Bitcoin’s Lightning network, allowing micro-payments for fractional lottery interest purchases to be made with inexpensive transaction fees, and low processing times compared to traditional Bitcoin transactions. As of this writing, approximately 1,000 BTC are locked into the Lightning network [[1]]. Based on an extrapolation of Bravio’s transaction data. The parties anticipate the Platform will facilitate approximately twenty times this amount (i.e. 20,000 BTC) in annual transaction volume from Bravio’s lottery ticketing sales.
Moreover, based on recent trading activity, overall market confidence in Bitcoin appears to have improved considerably. With BTC having started the month of May 2019 at under USD $5,400, the price has steadily risen, staying consistently above USD $6,000 on Thursday, May 9, 2019, and consistently above USD $7,000 on Monday, May 13, 2019, even surpassing USD $7,800 at one point [[2]]. With a sustained higher price of Bitcoin, it can be concluded that the markets have not given up on this crypto asset, and it continues to be used for facilitating value transactions on the Internet.
At the outset, the Platform will enable Bravio to accept payments in Bitcoin (BTC), NUVO (NUVO), and MeVu (MVU). FORK anticipates that the Platform, a layer two payment gateway, will be available for all interested merchants in late Q3 2019. The Platform will be branded as part of FORK’s Singularity division.
FORK President and CEO Shidan Gouran commented, “Crypto and blockchain alike have the ability to break down barriers when it comes to bringing opportunities to new places. From the very beginning of cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin, a borderless banking ecosystem was created, which had positive implications for many industries, especially ones in which privacy and cross-border restrictions matter significantly. Bravio has seen great results so far for allowing users in multiple jurisdictions worldwide to participate in foreign lotteries. However, this is only a fraction of the results Bravio could be seeing by accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment for entry into the world’s most attractive lotteries. We look forward to seeing the difference that the use of the Platform will make, as we avail the massive lottery jackpots in the Americas to players from around the world using crypto.”
Bravio CEO Paul Carroll added, “Pairing the use of FORK’s Platform built on ultra-reliable blockchain technology, and allowing a decentralized system of payment such as cryptocurrencies allows Bravio to potentially engage a whole new style and demographic of lottery player. Our aim is to offer global participants the option to use cryptocurrency to purchase original lottery tickets in most of the world’s best-known lotteries.”
Mr. Carroll further added, “In the developed world we have the opportunity to win millions of dollars most days of the week, for which we can purchase tickets relatively easy. It comes as no surprise that potential lottery players located in emerging markets, such as India, Africa and Nepal are curious about accessing and participating in these global lotteries. Over the past eighteen months, providing an answer to that curiosity has proven popular for Bravio. After speaking with the team at FORK, a decision to pursue a partnership with them was a simple decision to make. Shidan and his team possess such depth and digital knowledge. Moreover, they’re specifically focused on blockchain technology and are experienced in commercializing existing ecosystems by using multiple cryptocurrencies. We believe that together, we will dramatically enhance the potential of our existing lotto ticketing systems, penetrate new untapped markets, and by adding a payment gateway for cryptocurrencies, we will add immense value for our shareholders. The platform we aim to integrate into our lottery program is currently being developed by FORK.