A civil court yesterday gave its all-clear for Maltco Limited to be granted an extension to its concession to operate lotteries.

Evidence produced showed that claims made by a rival bidder that the authorities were offering Maltco exclusivity on more games than the Grand Lottery, Super 5 and Lotto, were false.

Betco Holdings Limited had asked the court last week to stop the Lotteries and Gaming Authority and the Finance Ministry from reaching a concession agreement with Maltco.

Betco, which lost the bid to incumbent Maltco after the latter submitted a better financial offer, complained that the authorities were granting more exclusivity than those mentioned in the tender document.

Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon heard Finance Minister Tonio Fenech testify that no exclusivity would be granted to Maltco except what the tender document provided for.

On the basis of this, the judge threw out the application, giving the government and the Lotteries and Gaming Authority the green light to continue the process to grant Maltco the licence to operate the national lottery until 2022.

The company, which has run the lottery since 2004, submitted a bid of €39.1 million while Betco, as part of a consortium with Gtech Global Services Corporation, offered €36.2 million.

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