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= Sazka Group =

 Sazka Group a.s.  is a private pan-European lottery and sports betting company,[1] owned by KKCG Group.[2][3] With brands such as Euro Jackpot and Pame Stoixima, Sazka Group, as of 2018, was the largest lottery company in Europe. It had operations in Croatia,[6] the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Austria and Italy.[7] Sazka Group a.s. employs more than 6 thousand people with approximately 63 thousand points of sale across its geographies of operation.[8] In 2018, Sazka Group reported more than €18 billion of wagers [8] over the year and a profit after tax of €263 million [8]. Sazka Group was derived from Sazka, a lottery and sports betting company[4] that was founded in Czechoslovakia in 1956.[5]

Company origins
On September 15, 1956, communist leaders in Czechoslovakia allowed the creation of the sports betting company Sazka, in part to combat illegal gambling. In 1957 Sazka introduced the popular Sportka lottery sports draw, which used 49 balls each related to a particular sport.[9]

Funds from Sportka were used to support the Spartakiad events, Prague’s Strahov Stadium, and Czechoslovak participation in the Olympic Games.[9] Czechoslovak Television began broadcasting the Sportka draw live in 1973.[9]

Sazka became Sazka, ltd after the Velvet Revolution in 1989,[9] with the nine largest sports organizations in the Czech Republic sharing ownership.[9][10]Among Sazka, ltd's shareholders were the Czech Union of Sport and the Czech Olympic Committee,[9] with the Czech Sport Association owning 68%[11][10]and the Czech Sokol Organisation owning 13%.[10] The lawyer Aleš Hušák was appointed CEO in 1995.[9]Expanding internationally, Sazka, ltd obtained a sports betting license in Croatia in 2000.[5] In 2003, the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic gave Sazka, ltd authorization to offer betting games via video lottery terminals, with Sazka, ltd launching the system in 2004.[12]

In 2002 Sazka, ltd[10] began building the Sazka Arena,[13] a multi-purpose arena in Prague for professional sports and concerts.[14] Initially built to host the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships,[13] the project was funded with long-term loans[10] and bonds. The construction went  over budget, and by 2010 the company was facing financial difficulties.[9] That year the company also received a hostile takeover bid[14] from Penta Investments, which sought a 100% stake.[15]

On January 12, 2011, Sazka, ltd partially defaulted on a bond payment[16] for the arena, and two days later, Sazka, ltd bondholders met to discuss restructuring the debt.[16] After a failure to pay out a jackpot in March 2011, Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek ordered a probe into the company.[17] Also that month, Petr Kellner's financial group PPF purchased a majority stake of debt from Roman Vitek,[18] who had in turn purchased the debt from Raiffeisen Bank and Komerční banka in a bid to gain control of Sazka's real estate.[14]

Sazka, ltd declared insolvency in March 2011[13][17] and was put into bankruptcy in May 2011. By June 2011, PPF had supplied Sazka, ltd with $11.9 million to fund its operations, with Sazka, ltd paying overdue fees to the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and allocating the rest to lottery operations.[19] On September 26, 2011, the Sazka, ltd's committee of creditors approved a complete sale to PPF and KKCG[20] for $208 million, with the two investment groups becoming Sazka, ltd's primary debtors.[13]

2012-2016: Establishment of Sazka Group a.s.
KKCG became Sazka's sole owner in 2012, establishing the Sazka Group,[21] or Sazka Group a.s..[22] Sazka Group retained complete ownership of the Sazka Lottery in the Czech Republic,[23] with Sazka a.s. becoming a subsidiary.[22] 25% of Sazka Group was purchased[5][23] by EMMA Capital,[25][3][4] with 75% retained by KKCG.[5][23]

Sazka Group subsequently expanded internationally, acquiring a number of betting and lottery companies.[26] Robert Chvatal became Sazka Group CEO[27][25] in 2014.[28] In September 2015, Sazka Group indirectly obtained a 11.34% stake in Casinos Austria (CASAG),[29] a subsidiary of Austrian Lotteries. Sazka Group and Novomatic then formed a joint venture to acquire over 51% of Casinos Austria in February 2016.[26] That December, Sazka Group indirectly acquired 11.6% of Austrian Lotteries.[21] Through a joint venture with Lottomatica, Sazka Group acquired 32.5% of the Italian lottery company Lottoitalia[4] in April 2016.[21] Sazka Group also obtained a minority interest in the Austrian company Österreichische Lotterien.[23]

2016-2018: Further expansion
In August 2016, both EMMA Capital and KKCG combined their gaming and lottery assets into Sazka Group a.s..[21][29] Again profitable, Sazka Group registered its highest win, of CZK 201 million, in September 2016.[9] Sazka Group had aggregate annual earnings of about 15 billion euros in 2016, with a total operating profit of 850 million euros.[29] That year, Sazka Group's companies took in bets equating to $19.62 billion in the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece and Italy.[2]

Obtaining a 33% ownership stake in January 2017,[23][4] Sazka Group gained control of OPAP, which holds exclusive rights to organize and manage numerical lotteries and sports betting games in Greece.[23] To help fund growth, in November 2017 Sazka Group began considering an initial public offering (IPO) in London,[24][4][2] among other options.[2][1] Sazka Group put the IPO plans on hold a year later, citing a volatile market.[30] Approximately €17 billion in wagers were placed with Sazka Group companies in 2017,[5] with annual revenues of EUR 1.13 billion and earnings of EUR 353.4 million.[30]

With the goal of gaining control of the company,[31] in January 2018[3][32][29] Sazka Group increased its holding in Casinos Austria AG[33][4] to 34%.[2][21] That month, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission allowed Sazka Group to pursue acquiring Reef Casino Trust in Cairns, Australia,[33] which was already partly owned by Casinos Austria AG.[31] Sazka Group purchased additional stock in Casinos Austria in October 2018,[35] bringing its stake to 38%.[27] In April 2018 Sazka Group acquired a 67% stake in SuperSport,[21][36] the largest Croatian sports betting company.[30] In 2018, Sazka Group reported more than €18 billion of wagers over the year and a profit after tax of €263 million. [8]

In 2019, KKCG and EMMA Capital agreed to split the assets in the SAZKA Group. KKCG became the sole owner of the SAZKA Group including all its assets except for the Croatian SuperSport business. [37] In July 2019, Sazka Group launched a bid to take full control of OPAP, seeking to acquire all shares it did not own in OPAP for 9.12 euros a share. [38]

Countries and brands
Sazka Group is the largest lottery company in Europe as of 2018,[6][5] as well as the largest betting and online casino operator in Croatia and the largest lottery company in Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Austria.[5] Sazka Group was the highest taxpayer in Greece as of 2018, while in Austria and the Czech Republic it was among the top ten taxpayers.[6] It has operations in Italy[7] and is regulated in the European Union, Switzerland, and Australia.[5]

With a central focus on lotteries, Sazka Group also has operations in sports betting.[5] The Group’s lottery game offerings include two categories of draw-based games, and instant lotteries, also known as scratch card games[8]. The sports betting business consists of pre-match and live betting on sporting events[8]. As of 2018, among its brands were Sportka, EuroJackpot, 10eLotto, Kino, Pame Stoixima, and SuperSport.[6]

See also

●      Lotteries by country