BERJAYA Sports Toto Bhd’s (BToto) new game scheduled for launch at month-end is expected to be positive for the number forecast operator (NFO) as it could result in higher sales per draw day, said RHB Research.

The research house maintained its market perform call on Btoto, with a fair value of RM4.80.

The new jackpot game, Power 6/55, with a minimum RM3 million payout is a replacement for its Toto 6/42 game and would commence from Oct 29, with the first draw on Oct 31.

“We believe BToto rushed to complete the development of this new game in order to compete with Magnum, which launched its new 4D jackpot game in September,” it added.

It noted the new game has a one in 30 million strike chance, which is lower compared to Magnum’s new 4D jackpot game’s first prize odds of one in 16.67 million and second prize odds of one in 1.67 million.

RHB Research expects Power 6/55 to create bigger jackpots than those created by BToto’s own Mega 6/52 game.

It recalled that since Mega 6/52’s launch in June 2007, the maximum jackpot of RM20 million has been “hit” three times, resulting in the highest sales per draw day of RM4.9 million recorded in August 2009 versus an average of RM1.9 milion.

The research unit said this did not, however, beat the record highest sales per draw day over the last 15 years of RM13.9 million recorded in April 2001 versus the average of RM990,000.

“We also note that the maximum jackpot amount for the Mega 6/52 game was also lifted completely on Oct 7, 2009,” it added.

RHB Research kept its forecasts unchanged, adding that it would wait for the new game to begin to monitor its popularity before it makes any changes.

“We maintain our view that in the short term, there may not be any significant share price catalysts for BToto as there may not be any more dividends announced until the 2QFY10 results are released in Dec 2009,” it added.

Last Friday, BToto was unchanged at RM4.34.