Lottomatica is merging with Spanish operator Cirsa in an all-share deal worth €2.8bn. The move combines two of Europe’s biggest gaming companies and creates a new leader in gaming and sports betting.
Lottomatica already leads the Italian market. It built that position by moving its lottery and retail business online early, and now holds a 30% share of Italy’s market outside of lottery products. Cirsa leads in Spain too, with a 12% share, but has never managed to build the same kind of online presence there.
Together, the two companies are set to become the second most profitable listed gaming and betting operator in the world, behind only Flutter.
How Big Is the Deal
Lottomatica expects the combined company to post pro-forma adjusted EBITDA of around €2bn a year. That estimate comes from looking at both companies’ results over the past 12 months. For comparison, Flutter’s full-year 2026 guidance sits at around $2.66bn, or about €2.29bn.
The deal is expected to bring in €101m in operating cost savings. Lottomatica also expects €115m in total pre-tax savings over three years. Advisory firm Regulus Partners called that number small in a note seen by NEXT.io, and said the projections looked overly cautious given the size of the deal.
Why Some Analysts Are Cautious
Regulus likes the strategy behind the deal but isn’t impressed by the numbers attached to it. The firm says the financials look flat rather than exciting, even though it has no real worries about the deal’s overall safety.
One reading is that the €115m figure is just a conservative starting point, and the real savings could end up much higher once the companies start working together. Another reading is that management wants to play it safe as they build out the new company.
Regulus warns that without real investment behind the merger, the combined company risks becoming a slow-growing group with little in common beyond language and culture, just diverse enough to call itself global without gaining much from it.
Why Some Analysts Are Optimistic
There’s also a strong case for the upside. Italy’s online gambling market brings in €47 per person, compared to €35 per person in Spain. Lottomatica played a big role in growing Italy’s numbers, and Spain looks like a market with more room to grow, partly because Italy has just gone through tighter re-regulation.
Cirsa knows this. The company tried before to build a stronger online presence through Sportium, a joint venture with Ladbrokes, but shut it down in 2019 when it was worth just €140m.
If Lottomatica can bring the same playbook that worked in Italy to Spain, Regulus estimates it could add around €350m in extra revenue. That number doesn’t even include the access to Latin American markets that comes with the deal.
Who Will Run the New Company
Guglielmo Angelozzi has led Lottomatica as CEO since 2014 and became chairman in 2025. He’ll keep both roles at the new company, working alongside CFO and deputy CEO Laurence Van Lancker, who has been by his side for years.
On the Cirsa side, CEO Antonio Hostench and CFO Antonio Grau will stay on to run Cirsa’s operations within the new group.
Who Owns What
Lottomatica shareholders will hold about 67.5% of the new company. Cirsa shareholders will hold the remaining 32.5%.
Blackstone, which currently owns most of Cirsa, will become the biggest single shareholder in the merged company with a 24% stake. It will also get to nominate two of the 13 board seats, with the rest going to Lottomatica’s current directors.
Blackstone choosing to stay in rather than cash out suggests it sees real long-term growth potential in the combined business.
The new company will keep the Lottomatica name and stay listed on stock markets in both Italy and Spain. The deal still needs regulatory approval, and it’s expected to close in the second quarter of 2027.
