For the first time, the government has to accept ONCE’s losses. For three years, the organisation has not been making the level of profits to which it had become accustomed, on account of increasing competition from games such as Primitiva, Bonoloto, and Euromillion – the lottery running simultaneously in Great Britain, France and Spain. All of them have made ONCE’s ticket less attractive. ONCE is now fighting back with El Rasca, its instant scratch-and-win card.

During the first six months of this year, ONCE achieved sales of E1.11bn, which represents an 8.39 percent increase over the results for the same period last year, thus putting a halt to the downward trend of the previous three years. In only a month and a half on the market, El Rasca has seen more than 160m cards being sold and takings of E81.72m. The data for the first half-year halts the fall in ONCE’s overall sales over the three last years, which were down 10.5 percent in 2005, 1.6 percent in 2004 and 3.5 percent in 2003. But in the meantime, the losses for 2004 are being covered by the state, which is supporting it to the tune of more than E15m.

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