Gambling firm Tatts Group says it is interested in acquiring lotteries in South Australia and Ireland.
Tatts said on Thursday that higher earnings from its lotteries operations helped lift net profit for the first half of the 2011/12 financial year by 11.3 per cent.
Tatts said the previously announced sale of SA Lotteries by the South Australian government was expected to be concluded late in 2012 or early 2013.
“It presents Tatts with an opportunity to further develop its lottery business within Australia,” Tatts said.
Tatts chief executive Dick McIlwain said Tatts was familiar with the South Australian lotteries business, it was close to home, and Tatts already had the operations and technology suitable for the South Australian market.
“The clear number one (target) is South Australia because of the synergy benefits,” Mr McIlwain said.
Tatts also could be interested in the Irish national lottery, which the Irish government is looking to sell.
“The Irish one’s a bit harder. It’s further away,” Mr McIlwain said.
However, some public commentary was indicating that the Irish government had been looking closely at how the NSW lottery was sold. Tatts was the successful bidder for NSW Lotteries in 2010.
Mr McIlwain said that if the Irish took a similar route, Tatts believed it would have “something of a chance”.
“The Irish, despite all the funny signs around the streets, do actually speak English like we do, and if they put that model together, we’re familiar with how to bid for it,” he said.
“And it kind of suits us, too. We like it.”
Tatts on Thursday reported a net profit of $166.88 million for the half year to December 31, up from $149.9 million in the prior corresponding period.
“The outlook for the second half of the current financial year is encouraging,” the company said.
“Nothing we can see suggests that our first half performance is not sustainable into the second half, largely because of our confidence in the foundations laid for each of the businesses over the past two years.”
Tatts said its first-half profit rise was partly driven by a strong performance by its lotteries business, which was underpinned by strong growth in Saturday lotto sales and an unprecedented jackpot roll in NSW.
Tatts’ wagering business, TattsBet, also increased its revenue and earnings, boosted by growth in fixed-odds betting.
Tote Tasmania would begin to contribute to the financial results of TattsBet from the last quarter of the 2012 financial year.
Tatts announced in December 2011 that it had agreed to acquire the Tasmania TAB (Tote Tasmania) for $103 million. The transaction is expected to be completed next month.
In the Tatts Pokies business, revenue and earnings also lifted as the division benefited from reduced depreciation arising from the forward sale of poker machines to venues.
In August 2012, the licences of Tatts and competitor Tabcorp to operate poker machines in Victoria ends, and venue-operators such as pubs and clubs will assume responsibility for the ownership and operation of gaming machines.
Shares in Tatts were three cents higher at $2.52 on Thursday.
