tatts completes nsw lotteries acquisition, page-3

Gaming machine operator Tatts Group Ltds (ASX:TTS) CEO Dick McIlwain has little sympathy for his rivals who lost out on the NSW Lotteries contract.

Tatts won the bidding for NSW Lotteries last month, paying $850 million for a 40 year licence to operate NSW Lotteries.

The Australian Financial Review reports that the deal was made possible after Tatts negotiated with the state government to let it retain around $14 million a year in unclaimed prize money to reinvest in the business.

However when Mr McIlwain learnt through the AFR that one of the losers of the bidding race had said it was not possible under current legislation to retain prize money, he retaliated saying they should sack their lawyers.

According to the Fin Review the price paid by Tatts was $200 million more than analysts had expected the deal to yield.

The paper reports Mr McIlwain saying that he is confident the transaction will double the companys lotteries earnings in under the five-year time frame forecast.

Tatts reported profit of $277.44 million in fiscal 2009.