Cirsa Enterprises is Spain's largest casino operator, founded in Terrassa, Catalonia in 1978 by Manuel Lao Hernández and still headquartered there. It runs 447 casinos and gaming halls and more than 83,000 slot machines across eleven regulated markets, spanning Spain, Italy and much of Latin America. Blackstone bought the group in 2018 and took it public on 9 July 2025, pricing the offer at 15 euros a share for a valuation of around 2.5 billion euros in what was one of the largest gambling listings on the Bolsa de Madrid. The group reported record net operating revenue of 2.15 billion euros for 2024, up 8%, with EBITDA of 699 million euros, a third consecutive year of record results. It also owns the Spanish betting brand Sportium.
The London-listed events group is paying 11.1 times Clarion's expected 2027 EBITDA, part-funded by a £940 million share placing. The gambling industry's largest trade show is about to pass from private equity to a listed owner that names gaming as a growth category.
With the reorganisation of betting shops, gaming halls and machines abandoned in August, the Ministry of Economy and Finance is looking at extending the licences that expire in December to the end of 2029 and collecting the fees, according to reports on the 2027 Budget. A €1 billion scratch-card tender is also in the mix.
A binding merger agreement signed in Rome and Barcelona creates the second-largest listed gaming and sports betting operator in the world, on about €2 billion of pro forma EBITDA. Cirsa is valued at roughly 6x.
Blackstone, reportedly the world’s largest private equity fund, is exploring options to sell Clarion Events, a global corporate events firm that includes its