Lottomatica’s IPO May Become a Reality in April

Apollo Global Management, the American global private-equity firm behind the Italian operator Lottomatica, plans to have the casino brand go public. As reported by sources earlier, Lottomatica’s initial public offering listing may be ordered very soon.

Apollo’s strategy would be to list Lottomatica on the Borsa Milan Exchange. The rumors were later confirmed by Lottomatica when it posted an update on its 2022 performance. In that update, Lottomatica explained that its controlling shareholder “is currently contemplating potential strategic alternatives to support its future growth, including capital markets transactions such as a potential listing.”

If everything goes as planned Lottomatica may go public by April this year. The listing would come at a strong point for the operator, which recently posted its record-breaking Q4 2022 results.

In Q4 2022, Lottomatica registered strong organic growth and record-breaking quarterly handle of $7.3 billion. Its various verticals expanded as customers and betting volumes increased. As a result, the company raked in $411 million in revenue which represents a 7% year-on-year increase.

Lottomatica’s IPO Is Big News for the Italian Industry

SBCNews pointed out that a Milan listing would signify Apollo Global’s departure from Italian gambling, since Lottomatica’s B2C assets were already acquired by GameNet in a $1.07 billion deal back in 2021.

GameNet eventually took the name Lottomatica and revolutionized the company to become the top land-based operator in Italy. Nowadays, Lottomatica has over 3,000 points of sale across the country, operates 1,400 gaming halls and 120 gaming venues and has a total of 13,600 tobacconist/bar gaming machines in Italy.

Lottomatica is expected to become the biggest listing on the Borsa Milan Exchange. Dealmakers will seek a valuation of $5.33 billion for the company, including corporate debt.

The Perfect Time to Go Public

April would be the perfect time for Lottomatica to go public as the operator expects to publish its FY 2022 results in early March. The company expects annual revenue of $1.3 billion with an EBITDA result of between $488 million and 492 million. The actual results, however, may surpass the corporate expectations.

This would draw extra attention to the company, which is ambitious on becoming a leader on the Borse Milan Exchange.

2022 was a very strong year for Lottomatica, which also managed to strike strategic partnerships with notable companies. In November, the Italian powerhouse penned an iPoker-oriented agreement with Playtech. This followed an earlier deal between Lottomatica and the famous payments provider Nuvei.