Sisal wins Tunisian gaming contract

The Italian operator has been awarded a contract by Promosport.

Tunisia.- Flutter’s recently acquired Italian subsidiary Sisal has won a ten-year contract from Tunisian sports betting administrator Promosport to manage gaming in the North African country. Sisal will offer sports betting, instant lotteries and numbers games, both online and through retail distributors.

Sisal international managing director Marco Caccavale said: “Winning the tender in Tunisia is a significant achievement for Sisal. Not only does it showcase our lottery expertise and leadership at a local and international level, it demonstrates execution against our strategic ambition to enter into regions which have considerable growth opportunities and development prospects in the future.”

Flutter completed its £1.62bn acquisition of Sisal last month. The company is most known for running the Italian national lottery, but it also has lottery operations in Morocco and Spain and began managing the lottery in Turkey in 2020. It had bid for the next UK National Lottery licence but lost out to the Czech Republic’s Allwyn.

Gambling Commission officially awards National Lottery licence to Allwyn

The Gambling Commission has entered into an “enabling agreement” with Allwyn to officially begin the transition ahead of the start of the fourth licence period in February 2024. Allwyn will run the lottery for a fixed 10-year term.

The British regulator named Allwyn its preferred applicant for the next licence in March but it hadn’t been able to officially start the transition process due to a legal challenge from Camelot and tech supplier IGT. 

Allwyn has now confirmed that it will operate from Watford in Hertfordshire, where current operator Camelot has based its administration since the National Lottery began in 1994. Allwyn says it’s reached a deal to open an extra office in Watford at Iveco House above Watford Junction train station so that it can work near Camelot’s current operations for an easier transition.

It said the location would allow Allwyn and Camelot to “work collaboratively to deliver the transition successfully”. Allwyn added that Camelot’s staff of around 900 would be able to keep their jobs, insisting that it is “committed to Watford”. The new office not far from Camelot’s HQ in Tolpit Lane appears to suggest that will be the case.