Fortuna expands Polish retail presence
Acquisition makes operator's Polish subsidiary largest bookmaker in the country.
Fortuna Entertainment Group (FEG) has been granted permission to acquire 80 betting shops in Poland by the country’s Ministry of Finance.
The company’s Polish subsidiary Fortuna ZakÅady Bukmacherskie will take charge of the shops from rival operator Tipsport PL, and as a result will become the largest bookmaker in the country with a total of 474 shops. It became the first operator to be granted a licence to offer bets online in January this year.
Fortuna ZakÅady Bukmacherskie CEO Jan Stefanek commented: “Development of our retail network is one of the main goals in our strategy. Though online betting in Poland has been growing rapidly, the retail network including both our own betting shops as well as franchise outlets remains a significant distribution channel for Fortuna in Poland.
“Retail network provides an important support to online betting “ the online customers may use all the services offered in our shops,” he explained.
The shops will be rebranded in April, with the company having also been granted an extension on the licences for 54 of its betting shops.
The acquisition is Fortuna’s first high-profile deal since it merged its lottery and sports betting marketing teams “ a reshuffle which saw lottery marketing director Lenka Janouchova depart, and Zdenek Lang put in charge of the combined entity.