Italy has emerged as the key growth market for Flutter Entertainment this year, with the LSE/NYSE gambling giant using the country as the host for the first ever partnership involving its Tombola brand.
Flutter has arranged a deal between Tombola, its online bingo brand acquired back in 2021 for €460m, and Sisal, its first asset in the Italian market and a long-standing market leader in the country, also acquired in 2021 although for the much more eye watering sum of €1.91bn.
The arrangement marks Tombola’s debut platform partnership and will see its bingo products integrated into Sisal, expanding the Italian company’s portfolio beyond sports betting and gaming.
Tombola games will be made available to Italian customers under Sisal branding, alongside a new product called ‘Super Bingo’ which Flutter asserts will be the first of its kind in the Italian market. There are also plans for Tombola’s casino content to be integrated into Sisal further down the line.
“This is a hugely exciting moment for Tombola, as we take the next step in our evolution and bring our award-winning bingo product to Sisal’s players in Italy,” added Marion Ryan, Managing Director at Tombola.
“The ability to seamlessly integrate and scale our platform for future partnerships represents a fantastic opportunity for Flutter to transform the bingo proposition, both within our existing markets and beyond.”
Italy – the Flutter Edge in action?
The ‘Flutter Edge’ is a term used by the global gambling group to describe its strategy of combining technology expertise with product and branding to secure market share across some of the biggest hotspots in global gambling.
M&A has been a core part of this strategy, with the group aspiring to apply this ‘Flutter Edge’ concept to market leading brands across various nations. Sisal and later Snaitech in Italy are prime examples of this, while a more recent case would be the takeover of NSX, operator of Betnactional in Brazil, which will form the basis for a Flutter Brazil brand.
With Flutter’s international reach seeming to expand year-by-year, primarily via its strategy of what it calls local ‘gold medal’ brands, there is an indication that Italy is being used as a testing ground and launchpad for further inter-group product launches and integrations across wider regions. Sisal’s standing as the betting operator of the Moroccan national lottery could be significant to this, for example.
Rosangela Robbiani, Chief Product Officer at Flutter Southern Europe and Africa (SEA), said: “We’re thrilled to see this combination happening, as Italy proves once again to be a fertile ground for collaboration across Flutter’s brands, particularly within Southern Europe and Africa.
“Leveraging the advantages of the Flutter Edge, we’re unlocking new ways to enhance the customer experience. Sisal has a long-standing track record in pioneering product innovation: this initiative is a clear example of how cross-brand collaboration within Flutter can accelerate innovation and deliver meaningful value for our players.”
Flutter’s seemingly never ending approach of growth via M&A and substantial technology investment has reaped dividends for the firm, that is undeniable. Its US activity in particular, as operator of market leading FanDuel, has proven particularly fruitful.
The group’s global market capitalisation now stands at around €48bn and its most recent published financial results, covering Q1 2025, saw revenue grow 8% year-over-year to $3.66bn.
For various independent brands across the world, today’s announcement may make acquisition by Flutter – or other multinational gaming plcs – become a more attractive prospect.
The deal signed between Tombola and Sisal shows that becoming part of a global group’s portfolio not only opens access to more resources, whether financial, human or technological, but can also lead to a more enhanced global presence as well.
The arrangement comes ahead of the announcement of Flutter’s H1 financial results, which may provide a snapshot of how significant its Italian operations have been to its overall performance.
However, publication of these figures also comes at a time of regulatory adjustment and more significant tax hikes across multiple markets which Flutter and other global gambling plcs count as highly significant, as discussed by the SBC team on the iGaming Daily podcast this week.
Dingnews.com 16/07/2025