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In the first major consolidation move tied to the opening of Peru’s regulated market, Spain’s Cirsa has acquired a majority stake in leading Peruvian sports betting and online gaming brand Apuesta Total.
The deal, announced on Thursday (July 11), will see Catalonia-based Cirsa pay an undisclosed amount for an initial 70 percent of Apuesta Total, with the option to acquire up to 100 percent in the future.
Apuesta Total has become one of the most prominent brands in Peru’s hitherto grey market for retail sports-betting outlets and online gambling that is now on the cusp of becoming fully regulated.
Via parent company Free Games, Apuesta Total is one of at least three dozen companies that have been registered as an authorised operator in Peru following a licensing window opened earlier this year, according to published records of Peru’s national gambling regulator (DGCJMT).
The company also has registered to operate more than 650 retail sports-betting outlets across the country.
Cirsa said Apuesta Total’s business in Peru had “grown impressively” in the pre-regulated era, generating more than €100m in gross gaming revenue in 2023.
“The acquisition is consistent with our M&A strategy focused on the online space and positions Cirsa as a key player in the developing Peruvian online gaming and betting market, which became regulated in March 2024, strengthening our omnichannel strategy in Latam,” the company said in a statement announcing the transaction.
Cirsa is already one of the largest land-based gaming companies in Peru, operating 19 casinos in Lima and other cities across the country. It also operates online gambling and sports betting in Spain, Italy, Panama and Colombia. Last year, the company acquired the Mexican online gaming brand GanaBet.
Cirsa was acquired by private equity giant Blackstone in 2018, but in May it was reported by the Spanish business press to have hired several investment banks to consider a potential IPO.
Apuesta Total is one of several established local brands that have successfully applied for a Peruvian licence. Other registered licensees include Betano, bet365 and Betsson.
An application window for authorisations to operate sports betting and online gaming was opened in February through to mid-March and Peru’s gambling authority has gradually added approved applicants to its published register over the course of the past few months.
In addition to operators, the DGCJMT has registered a total of 226 approved suppliers and service providers, some 2,750 authorised online casino games and 85 approved types of live casino games.
Operators and technology providers are currently in the process of obtaining their required technical certifications in accordance with a regulatory decree adopted in October.
Last week, the gambling regulator published a circular to announce updated compliance certification forms for gaming platforms, platform integrations, online games and progressive systems.
Among other things, the updated forms now require just one identifying code for each game and will allow for the same form to be used for multiple integrations, according to the circular signed by DGCJMT director Yuri Guerra Padilla.
Posting on LinkedIn, Peruvian gambling law expert Carlos Fonseca Sarmiento said the new forms mean that an individual online casino game can now be approved as a single game program even if it has multiple critical files.
The Peruvian regulator “is being unusually fast in resolving an astronomical number of registration applications for game programs and this type of rapid reactions are in line with seeking more efficiency in this complex process of going from free activity to a regulated activity”, Fonseca wrote.
