Italy will tender 329 horserace betting concessions to the public before the end of the year.
The decision to issue the tenders publicly follows a lengthy dispute over the renewal of the concessions that was settled by the European Court of Justice in September. In January the Italian government agreed to organize an EU-wide tender that will be subject to updated Italian rules designed to distribute the outlets on a fair geographical basis.
Last year the 329 concessions were worth €1.2 billion-- 59 percent of the overall horserace betting market. At the moment Snai SpA runs 298 of the outlets and Sisal runs 31.