Flutter Entertainment has completed its acquisition of major Italian gambling company Sisal in a €1.91 billion deal. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Get the deal online
Flutter Entertainment has completed its full acquisition of Italian iGaming giant Sisal in a deal worth 1.91 billion euros ($1.94 billion). The major gambling group announced the formal closing of the deal on Thursday after obtaining all relevant regulatory approvals for the deal.
Building important positions in organized markets
News of Flutter’s plans to take over the sisal first surfaced in December. Flutter explained at the time how the acquisition of the online gaming and lottery giant would be a boost to the company’s approach to building significant positions in regulated markets around the world. To fund the acquisition, Flutter used a debt facility.
Master gambling operator
Sisal is the holder of the national lottery license in Italy, Turkey and Morocco. Turkey is operated in cooperation with a local company called Demirören Holding. Recently, Sisal was one of a handful of operators in the mix to get their fourth-ever British National Lottery license, but ultimately lost to Allwyn after the application process.
Italy is the second largest regulated gambling market in Europe, after the United Kingdom. Estimated total gaming revenue in 2019 was €19 billion ($19.3 million).
In addition to being a lottery operator, Sisal has significant iGaming and betting operations in Italy. It has also recently expanded into the Spanish market in cooperation with Sportnco. Sisal has posted some good financial numbers since the original announcement of the merger: In the first six months of 2022, it posted a 58% year-over-year increase in revenue, to £402m ($484m). The operator’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 51% to £120 million ($144.5 million).
win to flutter
Sisal currently employs around 2,500 people and is headquartered in Milan. It has already forecast its 2022 EBITDA of 248 million euros ($252 million), with 59% of the total expected from online operations and the rest from lottery and retail operations. About 90% of Sisal’s EBITDA for 2021 came from the Italian market.
The leading brand of online gambling in Italy
as a result of acquisitionFlutter will now own the leading Italian online gambling brand as part of its portfolio. It already has its Betfair and PokerStars brands operating in the market. In all, an additional 300,000 or so average online players per month will join Flutter’s customer base, as well as more than 9.5 million retail customers.
