London (Reuters) - The government said on Wednesday it would not go ahead with the planned sale of state-owned bookmaker, the Tote, this autumn due to market conditions. "I have now concluded that it is not appropriate to pursue a sale in these market conditions. I have therefore decided that the Tote should be retained in public ownership for the medium term, and brought to the market when conditions are likely to deliver value for the taxpayer and racing,"...

The Tote, the state-owned bookmaker soon to be privatised, has seen the amount it won from punters rise by over 5%, mainly thanks to controversial touch-screen roulette machines in the group's 540 betting shops. In a surprise move, the bookmaker omitted to say how much gross profit it made from the [[GBP]] 500 jackpot machines, as it has done in the last two years' annual reports to parliament.