It is reported that Flutter has reached an agreement with Scientific Games and the private equity firm Brookfield to participate in a joint bid for the Italian lottery through its Italian lottery brand Sisal, but Flutter has not yet commented on this.
The operator let us see the statement of its CFO Rob Coldrake in last week's analyst conference call: "We will not discuss our bidding strategy. This is a commercially sensitive topic. We will be very disciplined, and as long as we continue to move forward, we will do our utmost to do everything right."
At the beginning of March, Flutter acquired Pluto (Italia), the parent company of online casino operator Snaitech, followed by this potential acquisition. The deal still requires final approval from regulatory authorities, and local activists have expressed concerns, fearing that the operator might engage in cross-selling between Snaitech and Sisal, with the opposition claiming that this business strategy is "harmful and aggressive."
Analysts expect the operator to discuss this issue in the fourth quarter earnings conference call; it turns out this expectation was correct.
In fact, at this conference call, Flutter announced its FY24 revenue of $14.05 billion and net income of $162 million (up 113%), and CEO Peter Jackson stated that the operator will continue to "consider comprehensively" before making a decision on the lottery application, which has a deadline of March 17.
However, the latest news indicates that the decision has already been made, and it was made jointly with the international lottery provider Scientific Games. This provider recently signed a 10-year contract with a New Mexico lottery provider and is also a long-term partner of operators such as FDJ and the UK National Lottery license holder Allwyn.
Although the deal has not yet been confirmed, it would grant both the operator and the provider an Italian national lottery license. Like Flutter, Scientific Games has a wide range of products and services, which may further raise concerns from the opposition about a "harmful and aggressive" business strategy.
