UPDATE 1-Italy Jan-May gambling up more than 9 pct

Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:06am EDT
 
[-] Text [+]
 * May wagers 4.342 billion euros
 * May scratch cards, Lotto down vs yr earlier
 * May sports betting, online poker up vs yr earlier
 (Adds details, background, shares)
 MILAN, June 10 (Reuters) - Wagers in Italy rose 9.5 percent
in the first five months of the year to 22 billion euros ($31.04
billion), state gambling monopoly AAMS said on Wednesday.
 Total wagers in May, including slot machines, scratch and
win cards, sports betting and lotteries, were 4.342 billion
euros, it said. AAMS did not give a comparative figure, but May
2008 wagers were 3.913 billion euros, according to the Agipro
news agency.
 In May 2009 scratch card and lotto wagers were down year on
year, while sports betting and online poker were higher.
 Gaming has remained resilient in the economic downturn with
Italian gambling company Lottomatica SpA (LTO.MI) posting higher
first-quarter results. [ID:nLS819897]
 Two-thirds of the rise Lottomatica expects in full-year
earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
will come from its Italian activities, it has said.
 Lottomatica holds the concessions for Italy's Lotto game and
Gratta & Vinci scratch cards. It also has activities in sports
betting and online poker.
 Rival SNAI SpA (SNAI.MI) is active in sports betting and
says it runs Italy's largest horse betting network.
 At 1153 GMT, Lottomatica shares were down 1.65 percent to
15.53 and Snia was up 0.7 percent to 3.33. Milan's FTSE MIB
 index was up 1.9 percent at 20,453 points.
Table of Italian gambling (millions of euros):
                    May09         Apr09        May08
Slot machines          2,004         2,014        1,784
Scratch cards            741           889          790
Lotto                    479           449          539
Sports betting           420           418          295
Horserace betting        172           183          218
Superenalotto            206           196          156
Online poker             200           188          nil
Bingo                    120           105          131

Total                  4,342         4,442        3,913

Note - 2009 data supplied by AAMS; 2008 by Agipro News
 (Writing by Nigel Tutt; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
 ($1=.7087 Euro)

 

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