Brian George, president of Supreme Ventures Limited

Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) is introducing sports betting in Jamaica in partnership with Greek firm Intralot.

The 10-year agreement will see Intralot outfitting about 500 outlets for SVL under terms that gives the Greek firm a 10 per cent stake in Supreme Ventures.

Asked to clarify the terms of the deal, surrogates of SVL chief executive officer Brian George said he was off the island and could not comment until next week.

Cross-listing

George and other SVL executives are in Port-of-Spain for the cross-listing of the gaming company on the Trinidad Exchange, a ceremony set for Thursday morning.

The company was listed on the Jamaican exchange in 2006.

Intralot said to be the world's second largest lottery system provider, will operate fixed-odds betting games in Jamaica with the launch of two games, pending regulatory approval by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC).

SVL in a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) on October 10, 2008 said it had already acquired a company Big A Track Limited, which has a licence to operate fixed-odds betting games in the island, but Wednesday Business was unable to confirm the nature of that licence with the BGLC up to press time yesterday.

Fixed-odds betting games are offered from terminals or computerised machines usually found in betting shops and allows for bets on the outcome of various games and events.

Supreme Venture will reportedly pay Intralot US$140 million over the contract period, or about US$14 million per year, under the deal struck between the two companies.

Wednesday Business understands that SVL is expecting to have an initial betting network of 500 outlets from the two games launched and eventually increase this to 1,000 outlets.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com