MILAN-- GTECH SpA, an Italian lottery company, Monday said it had begun preliminary talks to acquire International Game Technology, a Las Vegas-based gaming company.

GTECH said it "doesn't anticipate" a capital increase would be necessary to fund the acquisition, and instead it would potentially use a mix of existing cash and equity. There is no assurance an accord will be reached, GTECH said in a statement.

With a market value of $3.92 billion, or EUR2.9 billion, IGT would be a massive acquisition for GTECH, which has a capitalization of EUR3.34 billion.

Carlyle Group, the private-equity firm, is also in early-stage talks with IGT about buying the U.S. company, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Reuters reported Friday that GTECH and Carlyle are flanked by several other entities jockeying to buy IGT, which has hired Morgan Stanley to help manage the expressions of interest. Billionaire Ron Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management are also interested in buying IGT, Reuters said without citing sources.

"IGT regularly considers, and on occasion explores, a broad range of strategic alternatives, including but not limited to business combinations," IGT said in a statement Monday. "The IGT board of directors and senior management are currently engaged in such an exploration."

IGT made no mention of GTECH, MacAndrews & Forbes or the private-equity funds in its release. MacAndrews & Forbes and Apollo declined to comment.

GTECH shares fell 2.4% to EUR19.18 in Milan trading. IGT was little-changed after rising 11% on Friday.

Write to Eric Sylvers at eric.sylvers@wsj.com

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