IZI Group Plc listed as ‘preferred proponent’ to take over national lottery concession

The Privatisation Unit (PU) publicly announced the results of the financial offers for the concession for the rights of the National Lottery of Malta, with a company owned by the IZI Group being the ‘preferred proponent’.

It will likely take over from Maltco Plc which did not submit a bid.

The announcement was published on the PU website.

In its statement, the PU announced that, “following the evaluation and adjudication of Proposals as submitted by Proponents and the opening of Financial Offers, the Privatisation Unit has identified the Preferred Proponent regarding the concession for the rights of the National Lottery of Malta.”

The PU said that it received financial offers from two proponents and the results of the offers were as follows: 1) National Lottery plc €105,077,077 (Preferred Proponent); 2) Sisal Malta Consortium €53,330,001.

These were the only proposals submitted. Describing the process, the PU said that both had been invited to attend an opening session of the proposals. “Technical and financial advisory boards were then appointed to analyse the technical and financial aspects of each proposal received and they were evaluated by the Evaluation and Adjudication Committee (EAC). Following the initial evaluation carried out by the EAC, proponents were invited to attend the opening session of the Financial Offers which was held on 15th November 2021,  in the presence of the Notary to Government and the EAC. The Preferred Proponent was chosen on the basis of the highest Financial Offer received.”

The shareholder of National Lottery Plc is IZI Group Plc, which is owned by Johann Schembri. IZI Group runs the popular sports betting website IZIBET.

National Lottery Plc was set up in September 2021. 

Maltco has operated the national lottery since 2004. This was IZI Group’s second attempt to take over the concession. It had tried in 2012, but lost out to Maltco, which had submitted a €39,100,000 bid.