THE NATIONAL Lottery has been included in a list of State assets that could be sold by the Government.
The Lottery is one of a large number of assets that has been included in a memorandum that will be presented to the Government on Thursday.
It is understood, however, that the Lottery is some way down the list in terms of priority when it comes to a programme of asset sales.
Founded in 1986, the Lottery is run by An Post under licence from the State. Its current licence expires at the end of this year.
Last year the National Lottery had sales of €772 million from lottery tickets and scratch cards.
It gave out €419.9 million in prizes and generated a surplus of €243.7 million for good causes. Its costs amounted to €108.4 million and the company employs 100 staff.
In April, the McCarthy review on State assets recommended that the granting of a new seven-year licence be the subject of an “open competition”.
It is not clear how much the Lottery would or how much profit it could generate for a private operator.
An Post currently earns a maximum management fee of €3 million.
RTÉ reported yesterday that the matter was raised at the Government’s Economic Management Council, which is made up of Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The UK lottery is run by Camelot, a private company, while Spain is in the process of selling its company, Loterias, to generate funds for its cash-strapped government.
The Department of Finance and the National Lottery declined to comment on the matter yesterday.
