External consultants to advise Government on lotto licence sale

The Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin has confirmed officials from his department have met with potential bidders for the next National Lottery licence.

The licence is believed to be worth in the region of €400m in an upfront payment to the State.

In a written Dáil response to Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea, Mr Howlin said his department is to shortly advertise for consultants to assist in the process of selling the licence.

“Given the complexity of the process regarding the competition for the next licence, it will be necessary for my department to engage external advisers to assist it with the process.

“My department expects to publish a request for tenders for a consultancy contract shortly. The external advisers will be required, among other things, to provide advice to my department in relation to the structure of the competition, preparation of the necessary documentation and assistance in the process of evaluating applications/bids for the new licence,” he said.

He added: “During the past number of months, my officials have engaged with a number of key stakeholders in this process, including potential bidders for the licence and retailer organisations.”

The licence to be awarded is for a 20-year period and Mr Howlin has confirmed the current holder — An Post — will tender for the new licence.

An Post operates the lottery for an annual management fee of just under €3m or 0.5% of revenue.

Mr Howlin also said the percentage annual lottery turnover for good causes will be retained at 30.5%.

“The new licence will also involve an upfront payment to the State, with some of the payment being used to help fund the building of the proposed new National Children’s Hospital.

“It will be necessary to revise the National Lottery Act which was enacted in 1986.

” I expect to be in a position to submit draft heads of a bill for Government approval in the near future.”

The new licence will be awarded early next year to the winner of a bidding process, scheduled to begin in October.

Less than 3% of lottery tickets sales come from the internet trade in contrast to other European lotteries where 15%-20% of business is now generated online.