Gibraltar-based betting exchange firm Betbull has bought German retail bookmaker the Leip Group for around €14m (US$17.5m), and announced plans to diversify into high-street bookmaking.
“This acquisition is only the start of our continental European retail growth strategy,” Simon Bold, chief operating officer of Betbull, said.
The purchase of Leip's estate of 80 shops for €10m in cash and 700,000 shares is part of a plan to become the “leading Continental European retail betting player".
The Leip Group posted a pre-tax profit of €1m on a turnover of €51.7m for the year ending December 2004.
Günter Schmid, chief executive of Betbull, said his firm would aim to grow the business organically, but also seek further acquisitions to grow the scale of the retail operation.
The move into retail betting comes on the back of another quarter of low revenues, with just £21,000 generated from the firm's betting exchange operations.
Betbull has launched a German language version of its site, designed to create a fixed-odds betting product for the German horseracing industry.
But Bold, who started his betting career in the land-based side of the business, said the move into retail betting was a big step forward for the firm.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Betbull to be part of the retail business in Germany during World Cup year," Bold said.
source : egaming review
