News Broadcasting
Third Essel-backed online lottery Megawin launched
MUMBAI: And then there were three. After Sikkim and Karnataka, Subhash Chandra’s online lottery venture added Maharashtra to its portfolio with the launch last night of the state’s online lottery game Bonus Ball.
Essel Group subsidiary E-Cool Gaming has been licenced to operate the lottery while Essel’s Playwin Infrawest – as is the case for Sikkim and Karnataka – will provide the infrastructure.
As per the agreement reached in March, E-Cool has made a minimum guarantee to the Maharashtra government of Rs 1 billion in the first year of operation. E-Cool has committed a total return to the state of over Rs 50 billion (Rs 51.5616 billion to be exact) over the next ten years on a net present value calculated at Rs 19.04 billion discounted at the rate of 14 per cent a year.
Playwin currently has 4,000 online lottery terminals in 280 cities across the country, CEO Sanjay Das said. This number would be go up to 10,000 by the end of March 2003, Das said.
Queried as to what was the revenues being generated by the online lotteries, Das said it was Rs 200 million a week. Das also clarified that, at least in the near term, Playwin was not planning to tap any more states to start online lotteries.
In brief, Megawin’s operations run in this manner. The central server is located in the Mumbai suburb of Vashi. Lottery terminals situated at prominent locations across the state will scan payslips submitted and these will then be communicated to the central server. The central server will give a unique validation number as well as the security barcode to the terminals which will then be printed out. To give the audience a flavour of what could be expected one free ticket was issued to all present. One had to vertically strike out six numbers in a single block.
The draws will be shown live on Zee TV. All lottery tickets will carry the elephant logo, which belongs to the department of state lotteries.
Fending of criticism that the move was encouraging gambling, state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that a fund would be set up which would devote a portion of proceeds estimated to be around 40 per cent to the development of rural areas in the state. Deshmukh also said that the lottery would be available in other states as well but that the government would have to constantly innovate the gaming system as agents appointed by other states give a much lower share of the profit to the government.
The media attention largely focussed on the stars of ‘Devdas’ Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan, both of whom made a late entrance. Also part of the Bollywood brigade were Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra. They, as well as the politicos, were welcomed on arrival by the roll of drums and trumpets to give the proceedings a local Maharashtrian ambiance.
All that remains to be seen now is what per cent of Playwin’s total revenue is generated from Maharashtra.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
