(Seychelles News Agency) - A Seychellois-owned company has gone international with the launching of two new online lottery games -- one for sports lovers and another offering an inclusive tailor-made holiday experience to Seychelles.   

The new games were launched on Wednesday in a ceremony at Savoy hotel on the northern side of the main island Mahe by the owners of Maz Millions, Marie-France Macgregor and Alain Laporte.

“I remember we had a lottery that was giving a plot of land and we had to keep saying to foreigners that sorry you are not eligible to buy. Maz Millions is set to change that,” said Macgregor.

She added that “a ticket is a ticket and the public is the public for me. Today if a tourist wants to buy a ticket we can say to them that this is what you can get; a nice trip to or back to Seychelles.”  

“We started up very small and now we are going big,” Macgregor said, adding that “today we are proud to go international after our hard work.”

The lottery ticket is priced at $50 for the locals and $100 for people living abroad and it could be purchased on the company’s website www.mazmillions.com.

For sports enthusiasts, the lottery has 15 prizes up for grabs. On top of that, bronze and a special silver prize include two VIP tickets to Manchester to watch the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Manchester United on April 7, 2020.

For sports enthusiasts, the lottery has 15 prizes up for grabs. (Maz Millions) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

There are also 15 prizes for the tourism lottery. The star prize is all about winning a chance for a tailor-made holiday experience in Seychelles including two first-class tickets, VIP meet and greet on arrival and limo transfer just to name a few.

The director of sales and marketing, Daniel Vadivello, said that Maz Million is giving people a chance to make their dreams come true.

“Not everybody gets the chance to enjoy a holiday like a millionaire or go to watch an international football like Premier League with VIP treatment,” said Vadivello.  

He added that “we have been travelling a lot for the past two weeks and have been approaching several stadiums. What we have done is a world’s first. At first, we were getting some difficulties. After introducing our concept with the stadium representatives of football teams such as Manchester City, Barcelona and Torino we were able to get an agreement to do that,” said Vadivello. 

Maz Millions opened its doors in December 2017 at Unity House in Victoria, the capital of Seychelles, a group of 115 islands of the western Indian Ocean.

The first activity was the launch of a first-ever local multi-million rupee cash lottery in the island nation which was the first of two major lotteries held on the islands in one year.

The chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Sherin Francis, said that when she looks at the tourism lottery, she does not think about business but about the visibility it will bring for the island nation.

“When the owner came to me with the idea, I told them to just do it. We at STB, we are fully in support as if this succeeds we will benefit from it,” said Francis.

She added that the website will be viewed by so many people around the world.

“For a while, I thought it would have been called the Seychelles tourism lottery as it will give a lot of visibility to our destination. There is a lot of international partners involved, which again will put us out there.”

Christel Allisop, who was present at the launching, told SNA that it is a fantastic initiative especially the one dedicated for sport.

“There is a lot of football fanatics in Seychelles and one of their biggest dreams would be to get a chance to go and see one of the biggest international football matches. I know that the young will be very interested in buying the sports lottery. It is very affordable as well,” said Allisop.