MILAN, June 9 (Reuters) - Italian state monopoly AAMS, which regulates gaming, has made no decision yet on whether to put the scratch card concession out to tender or renew with Lottomatica , an AAMS spokesman said on Tuesday.
Lottomatica shares rose on Monday and Tuesday after AAMS obtained an opinion from Italy's top administrative court saying it does not have to auction the concession, which is due to expire in May 2010.
"We have asked for this opinion. We don't have a reaction. We have a year in which to decide what to do ... if there is a tender or not. This opinion does not mean we will not make a tender," the spokesman said.
Industry players have previously talked about a tender in the first half of this year.
The AAMS spokesman declined to give any timing for a decision by AAMS, an agency under the economy ministry. He noted there are "a lot" of companies that want to enter the scratch card market.
Italy's private equity-owned Sisal and Greece's Intralot have expressed interest in Italy's scratch card concession.
At 1144 GMT, Lottomatica shares were up 2.5 percent at 15.99 euros, well off early session highs.
Analysts were mostly positive on the scratch card court opinion, saying Lottomatica would avoid fierce competition in any tender even though its take would probably fall in any six-year renewal of the concession.
Exane BNP Paribas said it sees Lottomatica's take falling to 2.3 percent of wagers in 2011, from the current 3.6 percent of wagers.
"We have always assumed that Lottomatica would win the concession again, thanks to its extraordinary achievements in managing the game: total wagers soared from 400 million euros in 2004 to 9.5 billion euros in 2008," it said.
The top administrative court said renewal can be made without a new tender because this was foreseen in the original concession and so long as there are no major changes to the conditions and public interests are protected.
Lottomatica runs the scratch and win concession in a consortium with Scientific Games of the United States. (Writing by Nigel Tutt; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)