Foreign Expansion

"Carl, how is the company developing now?" As soon as Oscar returned to the German Welfare Lottery Company, he went to the office of the general manager, Karl.

Oscar was now a man burdened with enormous debts, and the German Welfare Lottery Company had become his sole source of funds for repaying them. Naturally, he paid close attention to the company's development. The greater the Welfare Lottery Company's profits, the more capital Oscar would have to invest in other fields. That way, he would not have to worry about those massive debts.

Oscar now felt that trying to drive Germany's military development forward by his own strength alone was undoubtedly extremely difficult. If he were the Emperor of the German Empire or the Crown Prince, it might have been much easier. But unfortunately, those two positions were likely beyond his reach. Crown Prince Wilhelm's right of succession appeared exceedingly secure now. Besides, Oscar knew that Wilhelm II still had a long lifespan ahead of him—he had lived until 1941 in another timeline.

"Your Highness, our company has been developing steadily all along. At present, sales of Double Color Ball tickets account for at least half of Germany's entire lottery market. Oscar's lottery company is practically being squeezed out of existence by us." Karl von Jonath wore a broad smile.

The more profit the Welfare Lottery Company made, the more naturally they would receive in dividends.

Oscar nodded. He was not surprised that the Welfare Lottery Company had developed so quickly. Especially when one Five Million Grand Prize winner after another was made known to all Germany through the newspapers, it made everyone else itch with envy. Even those who had never bought lottery tickets before would be tempted after seeing ordinary people become lucky winners and turn into wealthy men overnight. This continuously expanded Germany's lottery market, and the Welfare Lottery Company's earnings naturally grew larger and larger.

Moreover, besides offering a sufficiently enormous jackpot, the Double Color Ball launched by the Welfare Lottery Company also had many smaller prizes. In particular, simply picking one Blue Ball earned five Mark. This gave many lottery players an idea. After all, winning a small prize this time might mean winning the grand prize next time, right? Naturally, this made Double Color Ball the favorite lottery among German players.

"However, Your Highness, Germany's market is ultimately still too small. Though compared with other countries, it is already a major market. But I can already feel that before long, our development will hit a bottleneck." Karl had not been dazzled by the company's current massive profits. Now was not the time to lie back and sleep on the book of one's achievements.

"Karl, Germany's market is only this large. Now that the domestic market is gradually reaching a bottleneck, we have only two ways to expand our profits. The first is to introduce new lottery formats and further scoop more money out of lottery players' pockets. However, the results of that method would be very limited. Besides, if lottery players put too much money into buying tickets, it would have some adverse effects on Germany's economy. We cannot kill the chicken to get the eggs. Even if we introduce new lottery formats, it must be done according to a plan," Oscar said.

"If that is the case, then, Your Highness, we cannot choose the first method for the time being." Karl sighed.

"Then only the second method remains. That is to expand into foreign markets. By increasing our sales scale, we can raise our profits," Oscar said. With Germany's lottery market already pushed to its limits, expanding outward was unavoidable in the first place.

"Yes, Your Highness, we truly should expand abroad. Germany may have a population of seventy million, but that is not much. Russia's population is far larger than ours. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's population is not much smaller either. Besides, Britain and France, Italy, Spain, and the others all have sizable populations. If we can enter the lottery markets in those places, they will certainly bring us immense profits—perhaps even far more than the domestic market," Karl said with a nod.

As the general manager of the German Welfare Lottery Company, he naturally could not simply collect dividends without doing any work. Otherwise, he would be far too unqualified as a general manager.

Karl had also considered foreign expansion for a long time. But he had not yet decided which countries they should expand into first.

"Your Highness, there are so many countries in Europe. Which ones should we expand into first? If we expand everywhere at once, I am afraid our manpower and financial resources will not be enough," Karl said worriedly.

Oscar pondered for a moment before saying, "Set the first round of expansion targets as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. No matter what, these two countries are our allies. As a Prince of the German Empire, if a company under my name enters their countries to develop, they should show us some respect. Both countries have substantial populations. If handled properly, we should be able to earn considerable profits."

Karl nodded. Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy had long formed the Triple Alliance. Though contradictions ran deep within the alliance, they were allies in name after all. The Italians might be fickle and have little credibility, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire was Germany's steadfast ally. If the German Welfare Lottery Company wanted to enter the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there should be no problem. As for Italy, although there would be some resistance, the problem should not be too great.

"The targets for the second round of expansion will be Britain and France. Both countries have highly developed economies. Their people are relatively wealthy, and both their lottery players and potential customer bases are quite large. If we can successfully enter these two countries, it will bring us handsome profits," Oscar said.

There were less than ten years left before the war broke out. If the German Welfare Lottery Company could earn vast profits from Britain and France, it would greatly help strengthen Germany while weakening Britain and France. Using British and French money to build warships, artillery, aircraft, and tanks for Germany, then marching into Britain and France in the future—perhaps nothing could be more miserable for Britain and France than that.

"The third round of expansion targets will be the remaining countries. If the first and second rounds of expansion succeed, by then we will have sufficient financial resources to carry out the rest of the expansion," Oscar said with a smile.

Once expansion across all of Europe was complete, the German Welfare Lottery Company would become a giant of Europe's—and even the world's—lottery industry. The profits it earned would likewise be an astronomical figure.