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Horse-racing groups bid for Tote - report
By Reuters
Sep 17, 2006, 11:39

LONDON (Reuters) - A horse-racing industry consortium has made a formal bid to buy the country's state-owned betting shop operator the Tote for less than the 400 million pounds the government had hoped for, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The consortium consists of Arena Leisure, which owns several racecourses, Racecourse Holdings Trust, the arm of the Jockey Club that also owns racing tracks, and the Racehorse Owners Association.

The Sunday Times said analysts assessed that the bid was likely to be above 350 million pounds, while the Sunday Telegraph said the offer submitted on Friday was between 300 million and 350 million pounds, but both said it could prompt the government to open up the sale to other bidders to gain a higher price.

Both papers said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed that it had received an offer from a consortium for the Tote which has 540 betting shops across the country.

The government made a manifesto pledge before the last general election that it would offload the Tote to the racing industry, though analysts say the Tote could fetch more if offered to the open market.

The Tote and members of the consortium were not immediately available for comment.

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