UPDATE 2-Lottomatica 2009 core profit up 3.7 pct

* 2009 sales 2.177 bln euros, up 5.7 pct

* No plans for share buybacks in 2010

* Shares close up 0.44 pct ahead of statement

(Adds comments on div, buyback, ops)

By Nigel Tutt

MILAN, March 3 (Reuters) - Italy's Lottomatica SpA (LTO.MI), one of the world's biggest gambling companies, posted a 3.7 percent rise in core profit on Wednesday as the company's games proved resistant to the recession.

Core profits -- earnings before interest tax and depreciation -- came in at 784 million euros ($1.07 billion) against a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S analyst mean estimate of 786 million euros, and in line with the company's guidance.

"We have reached and exceeded our guidance, dealing in the meantime with continued changes in the gaming industry and a world recession," Chief Executive Marco Sala said in the results statement.

These results together with a strengthened financial structure and market positions "make us confident in future sustainability of our results", he said.

Net profit after minority interests fell 27 percent to 68 million euros. Sales rose 5.7 percent to 2.177 billion euros.

Net profit came in shy of expectations after Lottomatica booked a 76 million euros impairment charge on introduction of interactive gambling, which it said is growing slower than expected because of regulatory issues.

DIVIDEND, BUY-BACKS

A 9 percent rise in the dividend to 0.74 euros per share takes account of the company's financial position, Sala said in a conference call with analysts.

Last November the company raised 750 million euro in a bond issue to finance an upfront fee for a new Italian scratch and win card concession. However payment has been delayed by court appeals over the concession terms.

The higher dividend is "part of an overall strategy to guarantee consistent returns over a longer period of time" to shareholders, Sala said.

However on buy-backs, an executive said on the conference call that the company does not intend to use in 2010 an authorisation it wants shareholders to approve to buy back up to 20 percent of its capital.

On 2010, an executive said February Italian scratch-and-win was "a bit higher" than a year earlier while the Lotto game is suffering from a lack of "late numbers" where numbers are not drawn for long periods reducing the game's interest.

Lottomatica shares closed up 0.44 percent at 13.77 euros ahead of the results statement.

(Writing by Nigel Tutt; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

($1=.7328 Euro)