Flutter Entertainment chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Jackson has signalled an interest in potentially pursuing a €1 billion-plus bid for Italy’s main lottery licence, as the current contract with fellow gambling giant International Game Technology (IGT) expires in 12 months’ time.

Jackson reportedly told The Irish Times that Flutter was interested in making a bid for the lottery licence mainly so it could direct customers to its online gambling offerings. The newspaper reported that the CEO said Flutter was bypassing Italy’s ban on the advertising of online gambling by cross-selling through its lottery licence by providing scannable links on the backs of lottery tickets.

“We don’t have to, but if it makes economic sense, we’ll do it,” Jackson said when asked if Flutter would bid for the Italian lottery licence.

The main Italian lottery has been run by International Game Technology (IGT), previously Lottomatica Holdings, for three decades via its Lotterie Nazionali and Lotto Italia subsidiaries. The current contract expires in 12 months’ time, and the Italian government is to launch a bidding process for a new nine-year licence. The minimum tender has been set at €1bn, payable in installments.

Flutter, the parent of Paddy Power, Betfair and the fast-growing US brand FanDuel, reported that its revenues grew by 27% in the third quarter to $3.25 billion, to beat the consensus estimate of analysts by almost $150 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) soared 74% to $450 million.

BetBlocker, a charity providing free, anonymous to use, blocking software has partnered with Yellow Scarf, a charity working to deliver support and treatment for Eastern European communities in the Midlands of the UK, to deliver translated versions of the BetBlocker service to support Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities.

Supported by funding from GambleAware, this project has resulted in the roll out of key native language support for under-supported minority communities. Removing barriers to accessing support services is one of the cornerstones of the minimisation of harm.

Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, had this to say about the launch of the BetBlocker in these new languages: “A significant priority for BetBlocker is expanding the languages that we can support. As a tech solution to a complex problem, ensuring that users have as smooth and easy a set-up process as possible is paramount to our success in minimising gambling harms. If a user can’t get our app set-up, we’ve failed.

For this reason it’s critical that we facilitate users accessing our app in a language that they’re confident using. Yellow Scarf’s critical work has highlighted the need that exists to provide BetBlocker in languages that the Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities in the UK can easily access.

The opportunity that GambleAware has provided us to cooperates with an important treatment provider in the UK to expand the service we offer and ensure that our support can be accessed by these under-served communities is one that we were thrilled to take on.”

Tomasz Jarecki, Head of Development at Yellow Scarf, added: “It is a great honour for us to support BetBlocker in making their project more accessible and reaching wider communities – translation into a national language ensures that the more vulnerable people will be able to receive support that would otherwise miss them. More than 25% of Eastern Europeans living in the UK still struggle, despite their best efforts, to fluently speak English in unusual circumstances – and it raises our spirits to find partners such as Betblocker, willing to put in an extra effort to support instead of judge.”

The Competition Tribunal (“Tribunal”) has issued an interim order directing Google Ireland Ltd and Google South Africa (Pty) Ltd (collectively, “Google”) to permit Lottoland South Africa (Pty) Ltd (“Lottoland”) to access its advertising services known as “Google Ads”, for so long as Google permits any firm in South Africa to utilise Google’s Ads Services to advertise fixed-odds betting on the outcome of lotteries. The Tribunal’s order applies for a period of six months from its date, or the conclusion of a hearing into the prohibited practices alleged by Lottoland, whichever is the earlier.

This platform enables advertisers to display ads to users who utilise Google search, with Google Ireland acting as the service provider for Google Ads in South Africa.

The Tribunal’s order follows an interim relief application by Lottoland, a licensed bookmaker, which, inter alia, offers fixed-odds bets on the outcome of various lotteries around the world, including the South African national lottery, sporting events and other betting contingencies. Lottoland competes with other licensed bookmakers in South Africa such as Hollywood Bets, World Sports Betting, Betway, Betfred (which owns Lottostar) and Netbet (which trades as Sportingbet).

In summary, Lottoland alleged that Google terminated its access to Google Ads without justification while allowing access to its competitors, causing it financial harm and distorting competition in the market that Lottoland operates in, to the detriment of consumers.

Google contended that Lottoland’s offering of fixed-odds bets on the outcome of the national lottery in South Africa contravenes sections 57(1) and 57(2)(g) of the Lotteries Act. It submitted that in terms of its online advertising policies, which are designed to protect users, restrictions are placed on the promotion of certain gambling activities. Of particular relevance, the promotion of lotteries is limited to state-licensed entities and that this restriction is in place to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Lotteries Act.

Reasons for Decision

A non-confidential version of the Tribunal’s reasons will be published in due course once any confidentiality claims in relation to the reasons have been finalised with the parties involved. In deciding the matter, the Tribunal considered the following three factors holistically, balancing each factor against the other to determine what is reasonable and just:

• Evidence relating to the alleged prohibited practice;

• The need to prevent serious or irreparable damage to the applicant (Lottoland); and

• The balance of convenience.