Flutter is looking to expand its international lottery portfolio with the acquisition of Italian lottery operator Sisal. The deal is looking to be worth around €1.91 billion ($2.5 billion USD) and could be completed by the end of Q2 2022.
Sisal, which is currently owned by CVC Capital Partners is an international lottery powerhouse that currently holds licenses for the national lotteries in both Italy, Turkey and Morocco. The company is also in the hunt to grab the extremely lucrative UK National Lottery license.
While Sisal may not be familiar to folks outside of Italy, it’s a big company with more than 2,500 employees and is expected to generate around $220 million in revenue this year.
While a Sisal acquisition would definitely beef up Flutter’s lottery portfolio, it would also give the company a decent chunk of the Italian gaming market. Sisal’s Italian online gaming presence, combined with Flutter’s existing Italian operations, would give the company a whopping 20 percent of the very active Italian market.
In a statement reported on by iGaming Business, Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson commented on the deal saying, “I am delighted to add Sisal, Italy’s leading gaming brand, to the group as we look to attain a gold medal position in the Italian market. For some time we have wanted to pursue this market opportunity via an omni-channel strategy and this acquisition will ideally position us to do so.”
Sisal boss Francesco Durante, who was in the process of taking his company public when Flutter offer came in, was similarly enthused saying, “Through our commitment to digital innovation, international expansion and safer gambling, we have achieved a leadership position in Italy’s online gaming market and developed our global footprint by winning lottery tenders in Morocco and Turkey.”