SportPesa enters Italian market with RCS Gaming acquisition
Operator to rebrand the Playtech-powered GazzaBet.it to its SportPesa name
SportPesa has bought itself access to the Italian market with the acquisition of a 75% stake in Italy-licensed operator RCS Gaming.
Following the deal, SportPesa will rebrand RCS Gaming’s GazzaBet.it asset to its own name.
Gazzabet.it, which is powered by Playtech, commanded slightly less than 1% of the Italian sports betting market in 2016 with revenues of €800,000, and casino revenues of a similar size.
The deal will also see RCS Gaming use its media assets, which include the Corriere della Sera newspaper and the La7 television channel, to promote SportPesa’s offering over a five-year contract.
The operation will be run by SportPesa director Adam Beighton, who said the acquisition of RCS Gaming would enable “rapid expansion in Italy”.
“This acquisition also presents new opportunities to showcase to our current and future customers the SportPesa culture,” Beighton said.
The company has recently taken a hit in its core Kenya market where tax rates were ramped up to 35%, prompting the firm to publically consider leaving the market before confirming it would be “the last gaming operator to ever close in Kenya for whatever reason”.