An Post and the operators of the UK National Lottery are in line for a €405m (US$551.6 million) buyout of the Ireland National Lottery after Public Expenditure Minister said the consortium was the preferred applicant.
Brendan Howlin said the bid by Premier Lotteries Ireland, a consortium consisting of An Post and its pension funds and the Camelot group who operate the UK lottery, "had met the Essential Requirements and has submitted the highest License Fee proposal".
Discussion on finalizing a deal will begin in the coming weeks and conclude by the end of the year. The deal will commence October 2014 and will run for 20 years, a statement from the minister's department revealed.
The ongoing annual contribution to Good Causes will be set at 65pc of Gross Gaming Revenues and the €405m payment will be payable in two installments, the second of which will be made in October next year.
The sales come as part of an agreement between the Government and the Troika to raise €3bn from the selling off of State assets.
The An Post National Lottery Company currently holds the lottery license.
What's wrong with the way it is now?.
It does not indicate that anything specifically will change. It's just about which company owns the right to operate the lottery for the next number of years.
Just like the talk about privitization in the USA. It's not about somehow changing the lottery into something different; it's about whether the government itself or a private company will operate the lottery.
When the government "sells" the lottery, it is offering the license to operate the lottery for a certain number years. Normally around 10 years at a time.
Near the end of the contract, the government again puts the license out to bid. So if the company is not doing a good job of operating the lottery and producing profits, it gives the government the opportunity to choose someone else.
In this case, the Ireland government chose a partnership between An Post and Camelot Group to operate the lottery. Under the current/previous license, it was just An Post that operated the lottery.
So they're really not selling the the lottery.They are just leasing it out for twenty years.Big difference between selling and leasing.
Is something wrong with the management? There might be a lot of changes once the new management will take place. I hope the changes that will occur will be for the benefit of the players. They could introduce new games that will excite players.