Michigan lottery backs GTECH, Lottomatica deal

Aug 2, 2006, 9:11 am (2 comments)

IGT

The Michigan lottery has confirmed that the planned takeover of U.S. lottery operator GTECH by Lottomatica will not hurt its lottery concession in the state, the Italian company said in a statement on Thursday.

Lottomatica plans to buy GTECH in a $5 billion deal that would create the world's biggest lottery operator. One of the conditions for the deal is that it will not have an impact on GTECH's lottery operating concessions in the United States.

This has caused some hiccups for the two companies.

Most U.S. states opted for simple background checks carried out by auditing firms to confirm the concession, but Texas asked police for help with the investigation, triggering fears among investors that the takeover could be delayed.

Texas police expressed concern over GTECH concession contracts in Brazil, Poland, the Czech Republic and Trinidad-Tobago.

Investors have worried that the report and potential action by the Texas lottery commission could block the deal.

But New York, Missouri and California lotteries have already said the takeover would not affect their operating concessions.

Reuters

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GASMETERGUY

GTECH not only has connections with state lottories, they also handle VISA purchases consumers make over the phone.

This bothers me.  A company with contracts in Brazil, Poland, and so on that also handles VISA card numbers from Americans.  I hope the proper authorities do a complete and utterly ruthless background check on all their employees.

GASMETERGUY

Reading back over this news item, I see that I mis-read the article.  GTECH handles the lottories now.  They are selling out to the other company.

I still have reservations about GTECH having off-shore contracts.  What contacts or contracts does Lottomatica have?

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