Britain's Football Pools Could Change Hands

Britain's Football Pools could change hands after gambling operator Netplay said it was in talks to buy the business in a reported £100m deal.

The pools was once at the heart of the UK gaming industry with millions playing every week but this has now fallen to about 350,000.

Netplay confirmed that it had held talks with the board of current pools owners Sportech (LSE: SPO.L - news) but said the discussions were "at a very preliminary stage" and that there was no guarantee that any deal would be reached.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Netplay, which is listed on London's junior AIM market, were suspended. Israeli tycoon Teddy Sagi, whose fortune is estimated at $3.3bn (£2.2bn) is the largest shareholder with a 28% in the company though he is not on the board of the company.

The football pools date back to 1923 with the foundation of Littlewoods Pools. By the 1980s nearly 15 million people were playing the pools each week.

Sportech bought Littlewoods for £161m in 2000. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) acquired Vernons Pools for £51m in 2007 and consolidated them, together with another rival, Zetters, to become The Football Pools.

Nurse Margaret Francis and ten colleagues from Devizes, Wiltshire shared the first £1m prize on the pools in 1986. In 2010, 56-year-old Michael Elliott from Brechin in Scotland won £3m.

Over the past 92 years, the pools is said to have paid out £3.2bn in prize money to more than 61 million players (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .