Greek gambling technology and lottery systems provider Intralot SPA is denying rumors that it that it will merge with IT solutions provider Intracom Holdings.
Greek media sources had reported that Sokratis Kokkalis, founder and majority shareholder of Intracom, was considering merging with Intralot.
Intralot and Intracom both released independent statements denying the merger claims and saying that the rumors “did not correspond with reality.”
Intralot has recently lost its sports betting concession in Turkey, spurring the rumors it was looking to merge with another firm. Reports said Kokkalis was evaluating forming a new Athens conglomerate merging the Intracom assets of Intrakat (construction), Intralot (lottery/gambling) and Intrasoft (logistics technologies).
The rumors started as Intralot lost its Turkish IDDAA sports betting concession to Sans Girisim, a joint venture formed by Nasdaq-listed Scientific Games and Turkish media conglomerate Demirören Holdings. The loss means Kokkalis will take back day-to-day leadership of Intralot, a company he founded in 1992, replacing Antonios Kerastaris as group chief executive.
Greek media analysts have been watching Kokkalis to see how he will restructure Intralot’s Turkish division, which generates more than half of Intralot group revenues.
