The PPF equity group controlled by Petr Kellner is ready to take over management of the indebted lottery firm Sazka and stabilize its financial situation immediately, spokesman Milan Tománek announced Monday. The announcment comes on the heels of a dramatic step by Roman Ječmínek, the vice chairman of Sazka’s board of directors, who has submitted to a Prague court his own proposal for declaring the company bankrupt, citing its growing indebtedness.

Sazka lacks the money to pay all the winners of its lotteries, but the interim insolvency trustee is opposed to letting the firm stop the games, as it would hurt the value of the company. Operators of lottery terminals are also starting to become concerned over their deposits. But an effort to unseat Sazka’s general director Aleš Hušák failed at the company’s EGM.

The players circling around the indebted lottery firm Sazka are upping their bids in their attempts to wrestle control of the firm. Sazka’s largest creditor Radovan Vítek on Monday presented the firm’s shareholders with his own rescue offer: an immediate payment of Kč 1 billion for a 100 percent stake in the firm. Vítek’s offer is, however, conditional upon the agreement of all shareholders.