Sazka Pulls Plug on IPO in 'Volatile' UK Gambling Market

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has been turning the screw on gambling operators for more than a year and now their efforts are causing other operators to reconsider whether or not doing business in the UK is worth the effort.
Late last week, Czech lottery operator Sazka announced that it was scuttling plans to launch an IPO in the UK market due to that very regulatory volatility. In a statement made to the Press Association, as reported on Morningstar UK, the company said, “Sazka Group has put its IPO plans for the London listing on hold for the time being due to a number of uncertainties, including those caused by the volatile market environment.”
The “volatile market environment” the company is referring to is the ongoing increase in regulatory enforcement from the UKGC. Over the past year, regulators have held gambling operators’ feet to the fire in the name of protecting UK punters from everything from problem gambling to off-color advertisements. The crackdown has come with the promise that more severe enforcement is forthcoming.
Sazka was looking to get a foothold in the UK gambling market ahead of the 2023 expiration of the UK National Lottery License, which is currently held by Camelot.
The company is a major player in the European lottery and gambling markets and its decision to scrap a major IPO in a major market like the UK is quite significant.
As to whether or not Sazka will reconsider its decision, company officials left that in the air saying, “A revival of our IPO plans is contemplated once market conditions have improved and there is greater clarity over these and other uncertainties.”