A claim that the National Lottery has a legal duty to provide on-line lottery gaming machines in isolated villages has been rejected by the Competition Authority.
The Competition Authority, following a submission from the Mayo Fine Gael deputy, Mr Michael Ring, has told him that "there is insufficient information to establish that there is an abuse of a dominant position that results in restrictions on competition".
Mr Ring said he was disappointed and had referred the matter to the Director-General for Competition at the Council for the European Union in Brussels.
Dr John Fingleton, director of competition enforcement, explained in a letter to the deputy that since May 1989 the maximum number of permitted agents nationwide had stood at 4,000.
The Competition Authority "considers that the selection of an agent does not come within the ambit of the Competition Acts as the Authority has no jurisdiction to compel any person or organisation to enter into an agency agreement".
In this matter, "that is a commercial judgment for the National Lottery to make", Dr Fingleton said.
The letter added that the National Lottery's terms of appointment were "transparent", and it applied the same criteria to all applications from prospective Lotto agents.