(Trinidad Express) United States-based lottery operator GTECH Thursday announced a new five-year deal to provide online lottery products to the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB, which it says will net US$78 million in revenue.

This comes just one day after Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced his government's intention not to expand but to eventually eliminate on-line gaming.

In his 2007 National Budget presentation in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Manning said there will be no further expansion in the online games now offered in Trinidad and Tobago, and Government is moving to eliminate the entire system.

Speaking to reporters after the budget presentation, Manning said his administration planned to put an end to online gaming such as the National Lottery and Play Whe, which are managed by the NLCB.

GTECH, the company which has been providing the NCLB's with lottery terminals since 1994, announced the new deal in a statement on its website Thursday afternoon.

It said the agreement would result in an expansion of the number of NCLB's retailers.

The statement was issued by the GTECH head office at Rhode Island and not the GTECH Latin America Corporation Trinidad and Tobago at Algico Plaza, Port-of-Spain.

"GTECH Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lottomatica Spa, announced it has signed a five-year contract extension with the National Lotteries Control Board of Trinidad and Tobago (NLCB) to provide new online lottery products and services through September 5, 2011," the company's statement said.

"GTECH expects to receive approximately $78 million in revenue over the five-year extension term," it added.

The deal will see GTECH providing the NLCB with approximately 800 "Altura terminals and 400 handheld lottery terminals meant to replace the existing terminals" which will be placed in new "retailer locations".

The company will also provide the NLCB with 250 multi-media keno monitors and 400 Express Point Plus terminals.

GTECH manages the distribu-tion, accounting and validation of the Lottery's instant ticket business and also provides pre-paid mobile phone top-up and bill payment services with its lottery terminals.

In its statement, GTECH's president and chief executive officer W Bruce Turner, highlighted the benefits of the NLCB's operations to the public.