British betting house puts money on Romania

British group Stanley Leisure, one of Europe’s leading operators of casinos and betting offices, is planning to enter the Romanian market this year, with 200 betting locations to be opened by the end of 2004. The initial investment will amount to $2 million, but company officials say this is only the beginning.

“The Romanian market of sports betting has huge potential. We estimate that, in the next five years, the number of these locations will grow from the current 200 to more than 2,000,” Norman Leese, head of Stanley Leisure’s international operations told Ziarul Financiar.

Of all the Central and Eastern European countries, the group only operates in Croatia, and Leese says that Stanley Leisure picked Romania because of the good legislation in this particular field.

“As we are already operating in Croatia, we have been looking at several countries in the area, mainly weighing the regulations in this sector. As this legislation is well in place and the population is big, we decided to invest here,” Norman Leese stated.

The British businesspeople have already selected several locations in Bucharest and Giurgiu (which could be opened this month) and will be operating in almost every big Romanian city next year, according to Leese.

Romanians will have the chance to bet “on any kind of sports they can think of,” Leese says.

The Romanian market of betting houses is now dominated by German group Wettpunkt and Romanian company Astra. However, things may change next year, when the British investors make their debut in Romania.

Theoretically, if the competition opens no new location until 2005, Stanley Leisure may come to hold 50% of the market by the end of next year. However, things are not that simple, according to Norman Leese.

“New locations are being opened all the time. Practically, one location has been opened every week in Romania lately. It is very difficult to estimate the market share,” the British official says.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro