London/Munich/Copenhagen, November 4, 2009 – Currently, the French liberalisation plans are probably getting most of the industry’s attention. But in the background, at times almost neglected, several other countries, such as Denmark, are setting about liberalising large parts of their gambling market. Therefore, the consulting firm MECN and the law firm Horten have joined forces to compile a new report that offers an unprecedented in-depth analysis of Denmark’s gambling market.

London/Munich – Exactly four years after the first edition, MECN is now issuing the long awaited 2nd and updated version of its landmark report “Privatisation of State-Controlled Gambling Operators”. In this report, MECN and co-authors, such as investment bank Sal. Oppenheim, analyse the topic of privatisation in unprecedented depth and detail.

Privatization comes in handy. Is seems to be a magic tonic. Daily we hear people talking about “privatizations”. One can privatize, Roads, Schools, Golf Courses, Airports, Postal Services, Energy, Prisons, Marinas, Water, Nursing Homes… …and GAMBLING. “Gambling-Privatization” is an other panacea, where Governments are suddenly focusing on as a desirable target: Why not privatize it? It will only be a matter of time. Governments need the money and the cash rich gambling operators have that money.

The privatization of the state-owned Turkish national lottery, Milli Piyango, has been cancelled after the final two bidders, OPAP+ and Turkcell+, failed to match the US$ 1.62 billion valuation set for the lottery by the tender commission. When Greece’ Intralot backed out off the Milli Piyango privatization process, it should have been a wake up call for Turkish Privatization Administration, or ÖİB.

All eyes are focused on the French betting industry. A complete new gaming law will see the light in a couple of weeks, and will bring in 2010 a first sports betting liberalization/privatization in France, with its 64 million in habitants.
 
All involved operators are already in their starting blocks. They are the following interested contenders, such as Intralot, OPAP, Stanleybet, Ladbrokes, Österreichische Lotterien, Lottomatica, Unibet, Paf, BetClic, bwin Interactive Entertainment, Betfair, Everest Poker and its subsidiary of GigaMedia etc.

On January 6, 2009, the Privatization Administration made an Amendment Announcement for the privatization of the Turkish National Lottery, by granting the license for a 10-year period. The pre-qualification submission deadline was laid down for February 16, 2009. Games of Chance Data Room and Data Site application deadline was delayed to March 2, 2009 and the Games of Chance Data Room and Data Site access had to be changed from March 6 to March 30, 2009.

Ankara (Reuters) – Turkey’s Privatisation Administration (OIB) said on Monday it received five bids in the pre-qualification stage of a tender for the privatisation of national lottery company Milli Piyango. The Turkish government’s privatisation process has taken a hit as investors largely stay on the sidelines due to the global financial crisis. The following are the firms bidding for Milli Piyango in the pre-qualification stage:

The bidding process for the privatization of the Turkish national lottery, Milli Piyango, has been extended by a little more than one month from its January 15 deadline at the request of investors. Privatization authorities told the Reuters news agency that interested parties now have until February 27 to apply for pre-qualification in order to tender a bid. “There is no shortage of interest from investors in the national lottery,” said Metin Kilci, Chairman for the nation’s Privatization Administration.

The new privatization report “All you have to know for the privatization of the two French monopolies – PMU for horse racing and Francaise des Jeux for the lotteries” will be continuously updated. This new process, of daily latest news gathering, proved to be a great success with our previous reports. GamblingAnalysts.eu will again give the maximum information to the buyers of the new privatization report on the French monopolies. The last privatization report on the Turkish Lottery had more than 90 pages.

In Turkey, the government has set the scheduled date for the privatization of the national lottery to January 9, 2009 in the wake of strong bidding from numerous international parties. It is set to involve a re-branding exercise alongside the appointment of a regulatory authority. The final privatization is set to involve a re-branding exercise alongside the appointment of a regulatory authority with firms such as Greek firms OPAP and Intralot interested in taking over the national lottery.

In France, the government is planning to introduce legislation that would set out the mechanisms to privatize national lottery company La Francaise Des Jeux via a share flotation sometime next year. According to the newspaper Les Echos, Christophe Blanchard-Dignac, head of La Francaise Des Jeux, stated that the company was preparing for a decision by the State on how to reduce its 72 % stake and had hired Merrill Lynch as financial advisers.

Turkish conglomerate Alarko Holding said it is still in search for a foreign partner to jointly bid for the tender for Turkish national Lottery Milli Piyango. In a filing to the Stock Exchange, the company responded to media reports that Alarko Holding would bid together with Greece OPAP and Turkish Dogus Group. Alarko said that it was „still carrying out negotiations with the Milli Piyango administration and would make necessary announcements when a deal with a foreign company is materialised“.