Gambling brings generous profits: The most thriving industry. Romanians leave one billion euros a year for “pecans” and bets
The Romanian Lottery, Max Bet and Superbet Betting & Gaming are the largest players on the local gambling market, a market valued at over one billion euros.
Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit
The market leader is the Romanian Lottery, the state company controlled by the Ministry of Finance, which did not publish its financial results for 2018 until the top was reached and did not answer the ZF questionnaire. In 2017, the Lottery had a turnover of 897 million lei, a net profit of 66 million lei and a number of approximately 2,500 employees. With these figures, it’s just clear that gambling can drive economic growth.
On the second place in the top is the Superbet group, with a cumulative turnover of 595 million lei in 2018, increasing by 40% compared to 2017, according to the data provided by the company’s representatives. The SuperBet group, co-founded by Serbian entrepreneur Sasha Dragic and the largest private player on the Romanian sports betting and gaming market, announced that it is looking to expand into international markets in countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. The company received in 2018 a financing of 175 million euros from the American investment fund Blackstone, one of the largest funds in the world, which manages assets of over 500 billion dollars. In Romania, Superbet had a profit of over 87 million lei in 2018 and a number of over 3,300 employees.
On the third place in the ranking is the group Max Bet, the gambling organizer that ended 2018 with a cumulative turnover of 571 million lei, increasing by 20% compared to 2017. At the same time, the company reported a net profit of 145 million lei in 2018, 44% above the level of the previous year. Max Bet’s revenue growth had two components: a quantitative increase, by opening new locations during 2017 and 2018, and a qualitative one, by improving economic performance, in terms of productivity and efficiency, especially at previously open locations of 2017, according to MaxBet representatives in Romania. Max Bet is present on the local market through two legal entities (Max Bet SRL – which manages the medium and large game rooms and Max Bet Jocuri Electronice SRL – which manages the smaller rooms, which have a larger number reduced slot machines).
Most companies operating in the gambling industry are registered in countries such as Cyprus, Malta or Gibraltar, this is a common practice among players in this industry, this includes sites like idn poker. This common practice is due to the more advantageous tax regime practiced by these states for companies in the industry.