Ladbrokes Sets Online Gambling Sights on Scandinavia - 01-26-07
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January 26 - Leading UK-based bookmaker and gambling group Ladbrokes has made an
offer for large Scandinavian online gaming company, Sponsio, which has interests
in Finland Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
While Ladbrokes already had a partnership agreement in place with Sponsio, a
spokesperson for the bookmakers confirmed that the complete acquisition of the
company for ?36 million would boost its market position in the Scandinavian
countries.
Online gambling studies have shown that Internet gambling per capita in
Scandinavia is amongst the highest in Europe and obviously presents an excellent
expansion opportunity for a company as large and focused as Ladbrokes.
But Ladbrokes has also set its sights on Spain, in the form of partnership with
local slot machine company Cirsa Slot, which has banks of slot machines
throughout Spain in arcades, news agents and arcades.
And late last year, Ladbrokes obtained licenses allowing it to operate betting
outlets in Italy.
Since the American online gambling ban, large gambling companies around the
world have been scrambling over themselves to snap up a share of the lucrative
European online gambling market.
