Irish-based gaming giant Flutter has narrowly lost out to rival IGT (International Game Technology) in the race to operate Italy’s main lottery licence, one of the most lucrative lotto franchises in the world.
IGT, the current incumbent, confirmed it had won the tender process with a bid of €2.23 billion for the nine-year licence.
It confirmed the winning bid will be paid in three instalments between the date of the award and April 2026 with the first two instalments of €500 million and €300 million made this year.
A spokesman for Paddy Power owner Flutter said the company was not commenting on IGT’s victory.
As part of a trading update earlier this month, chief executive Peter Jackson confirmed Flutter had submitted a tender for the Italian lotto “with a majority position in a consortium with (tech company) Scientific Games.”
While advertising online gambling is banned in Italy, Flutter could have, under the current rules, cross-sold its other products by allowing lottery customers to scan the back of their tickets.
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This was seen by the company as a big opportunity to bolster online revenues and a prerequisite for entering the race.
Flutter is in the process of buying Italy’s third-largest online gambling company Snaitech from Isle of Man-based Playtech for $2.6 billion (€2.3 billion).
Combined with its existing Italian lotto business Sisal, acquired two years ago for €1.9 billion, this will give Flutter a 30 per cent share of online betting in Europe’s biggest gambling market.
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According to sources, IGT and Flutter’s bid for the country’s main licence are both understood to have passed the technical part of the bid process.
“The €2.23 billion investments in upfront fees reflect the significant value of the new license and IGT is confident that the investment will enhance our revenue and profit potential,” IGT chief executive Vince Sadusky said.
“The exciting innovation pipeline with fresh launches planned for commencement of the new license will drive Lotto wager growth,” he said.
“In addition, we plan to significantly grow our iLottery sales and leverage that momentum to expand into the Italian B2C iCasino, sports betting, and other digital gaming business,” Mr Sadusky said.
Flutter moved its main stock market listing to Wall Street earlier this year, cancelling its Iseq quotation in the process.
