Sportingbet Sells Italian Concern

The UK betting giant, Sportingbet has confirmed that it has sold its Italian subsidiary, Sportingbet Italia to a local management team.

The sale came after Sportingbet realized that the changes promised by the Italian government that were due to take place in the market were not materialising as rapidly as first believed they would. Instead a new offline gambling model has been adopted by the Italians.

“Consequently, the combination of this new alternative channel for the Italian customer together with the lack of operational synergies with the rest of the group's European business has mean Sportingbet Italia has been loss making since acquisition,” said Sportingbet.

“While these losses have been reduced to the minimum considered achievable, the board has concluded that significant financial and managerial investment would be required to generate a profitable business in Italy from its current base and, at this present time, such investment would be better placed elsewhere in the group's portfolio.”

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