What are the chances?

GTECH: Once they had it, then they lost it, now they've been asked to stick around to help Totalizator Sportowy.
By : Magdalena Wierzchowska

   U.S-based GTECH will decide this week whether to extend its contract for operating Totalizator Sportowy's online system by at least two months, said a GTECH source who asked to remain anonymous.

   GTECH, which is under contract to operate the national lottery's gaming system until October, was awarded a $250 million extension in February, only to have it revoked by Treasury Minister Aldona Kamela-Sowinska who said the deal "lacked clarity in tender procedures."

   Implementing a new system, which allows the national lottery to send real-time results from more than 6,000 gaming outlets across the country to its headquarters in Warsaw, will take eight months, effectively leaving Totalizator without an online operator after October. GTECH is under no obligation to continue running Totalizator's system after its present contract expires.

   Last week, GTECH's parent company, Grytek, sent a letter to Totalizator in which it urged the lottery to sign the cancelled contract. "We've said it's a valid contract," said Robert Vincent, GTECH's spokesman. On Friday, Totalizator refused to sign the deal saying its sole owner, the treasury, still wouldn't agree to it.

   Neither the treasury nor Totalizator would comment officially on the issue.