Merkur increases sports betting presence in Belgium

The Gauselmann Group’s interest in the Belgian sports betting sector has been boosted with subsidiary Merkur Sportwetten increasing its 50.1 per cent stake in Belgian operating company Betcenter Group to 74.9 per
cent.

The Betcenter managing partner, Seydi Tekin (pictured), remains in charge of the running of the company, assisted by Carsten Schaudienst as a director. The relationship between Merkur sports betting and Betcenter has been in operation for four years when Betcenter began to use the products of Cashpoint Malta, another Gauselmann subsidiary.

The purchase of fractionally over half of the Betcenter shares by Merkur took place in 2018. Seydi Tekin commented: “We carried out a partial sale in 2018 to expand our business in Belgium and grow faster. In Merkur sports betting we found an ideal partner who supports us as a technology provider for system betting and on a financial basis and as a result we have doubled our business in two years.”

“We want to increase this strong Merkur footprint under the Betcenter brand in Belgium; we will continue to expand the omni-channel product range in the next few months,” said Markus Ettlin, managing director of Merkur Sportwetten

Betcenter has 87 sales outlets – 70 of them betting shops – and an extensive online sports betting offer in Belgium. Betcenter is the second largest sports betting provider and broker in Belgium. It employs 150 people.