The sale of bet.pt, which had Gabino Oliveira as a reference shareholder, had been agreed with the Entain group (owner of Bwin) since October 2020. The deal between the two companies established the payment of €50 million as soon as the contract was signed. The remaining €10 million will be paid in the next two years, subject to the fulfillment of certain requirements.
As it was possible to ascertain, the sale of bet.pt was due to the high degree of competition that is already registered in the Portuguese online gambling market, very dominated by international companies, with great investment capacity. In this scenario, the Portuguese capital operator was at a disadvantage.
The Entain group, which is listed on the London stock exchange, enters the Portuguese regulated market by acquiring one of its main sports betting and online gambling operators, and strengthens its presence in the Iberian Peninsula. In Spain, the group already operates under the Bwin brand.
Marcus Silva, Managing Director of Entain, praised the “credibility of the League”, pointing to the objective of giving visibility to the brand: “Bwin wants to be part of this partnership because, through it, we will achieve high market visibility. We are going to send a positive message to the Portuguese market, that we are here to stay, and that we defend principles within the industry such as honest, responsible gambling, and with the utmost attention to the customer.”
“This is a historic moment for all professional football. A strategy that began to be outlined in 2015, when very few would believe that we could reach a sponsorship of this dimension. This is a partnership agreement of historic values and reflects the planning work, betting on a more entrepreneurial management and the construction and enhancement of a new brand that could become a national and international reference,” guarantees the president of the League, Pedro Proença.
The Entain group predicts that the online gaming market in Portugal will grow by 70% by 2023. With this acquisition, the Entain group will have online gaming operations in 27 regulated markets. This online gaming giant explores both sports betting and casino games on digital platforms. In 2020, it accounted for gaming revenues in more than 3.5 billion euros.
At the end of last year, the group said it was committed to operating only in markets where online gambling is regulated. Currently, 99% of the revenue is assured in regulated markets or in the process of regulation.
Source: Dinheiro Vivo
