Italy’s lotto tender is up for grabs, peaking the interest of Flutter Entertainment. Local NGOs have called for a level-headed approach.
Flutter is one of the main players on the Italian market. Through brands like Sisal and Snaitech, the firm sits comfortably on around 30% of the country’s online betting share.
While not outright confirming it, Flutter CEO Peter Jackson hinted at leveraging the NYSE-listed gambling giant’s strong position in Italy to enter the bid for the Italian lotto tender, applications for which are due by 17 March.
“In Italy, there is an opportunity to bid for the lotto contract,” Jackson said during Flutter’s latest financial call.
“I think Sisal has done a brilliant job in terms of activating cross-selling at the online channel and driving benefits in that.”
If Flutter decides to enter the bidding process and comes out victorious, the firm could potentially implement what Jackson referred to as ‘cross-selling’ in the above quote.
This is a practice used to refer players to the rest of a company’s product portfolio – through a scannable QR code for example.
This code could in theory be placed somewhere on a purchasable lottery ticket, and when scanned lead to Flutter’s other Italy-facing products. Jackson gives the impression that Sisal has already successfully implemented this method.
Given that the Italian Lotto attracts an average of 21 million players per week, it is easy to see why cross-selling poses a lucrative financial opportunity for the tender’s winner.
Charity raises cross-selling concerns
However, Mettiamoci in gioco – an Italian NGO which advocates for safer gambling practices – has warned against the cross-selling of other gambling products, as it might become the prerequisite for increased gambling harm rates.
The Italian legislature currently prohibits the advertising of games of chance for this exact reason – but cross-selling falls outside the scope of this legislation.
“We express concern for the practice of cross-selling, through which operators can direct lottery players to other gambling products…by exploiting the physical sales network and lottery tickets,” the NGO stated.
“This dynamic is reflected in the constant and exponential increase in players’ stakes and losses, which according to the latest data have increased enormously compared to the previous year.”
It remains to be seen whether Flutter will implement this practice, or if the firm decides to enter the bid at all – though various media reports state that the Paddy Power owner is widely expected to launch a bid for the €1.5bn contract.
One guaranteed entry is that of International Game Technology Group (IGT), which will look to continue its 30-year long lotto concession.
Lottery Daily will update readers on the final list of applicants due to be announced next week.