Ontario Teachers Completes Second Lottery Deal

(February 28, 2014) — A subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTTP) has settled terms to run the Irish national lottery for the next two decades, five months after initially being granted the license.

The pension fund’s Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) subsidiary, which has minority stakes held by An Post (the Irish Post office and previous operator) and An Post pension funds in Ireland, was selected in October 2013 as the preferred bidder for the licence following a competitive bidding process.

With terms now finalised, the initial payment of the €405-million licence fee will be made to the Irish government. The transition to PLI operating the National Lottery is expected to be completed over the next year.

The deal marks the second national lottery venture for OTTP, having already bought Camelot Group, the operator of the UK national lottery, in 2010.

Camelot will provide consulting services to the Irish lottery’s existing management.

“Teachers’ is an experienced investor in lottery operators and we look forward to working with our partners in Ireland to grow the National Lottery through innovation and technology investments that grow sales,” Lee Sienna, OTTP’s vice-president of long-term equities and chairman of PLI, said in a statement.

“The Irish licence is a significant milestone in our strategy of building a leadership position in the international lottery sector.”

The PLI takes over the running of the Irish lottery at a difficult time. Five years of declining sales have resulted in an annual turnover drop from a 2008 high of €840 million to €735 million in 2012, according to the Irish Times.

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