A bang in the gaming industry: Tipico swallows the Admiral Group

There have been rumors in the Austrian gambling and sports betting industry for a long time, on Wednesday morning the Novomatic Group let the cat out of the bag after employees had previously been informed: Novomatic is selling 100 percent of the shares in the Austrian Atlas Group, the parent company of the Admiral Group, to the Tipico Group based in San Julian, Malta, and Karlsruhe.

Novomatic and Tipico have reached an agreement on this deal, which still needs to be approved by the competition authorities. Insiders don’t expect a decision for six months. It was agreed that the details of the contract would be kept confidential.

That’s what the CEOs say

“The Tipico Group, the leading provider of sports betting and online slot games in Germany, sees this investment as an important step to further strengthen its position in Austria and expand its portfolio,” it said in a press release. “The Novomatic Group is reinforcing this step with a stronger focus on international business orientation as a global innovation leader in the industry.”

“We have decided to sell the Admiral Group in Austria in order to focus on international growth markets and drive further global expansion,” says Novomatic CEO Stefan Krenn.

“This agreement represents an important step in Tipico’s expansion strategy to further expand our leading role in the German-speaking region and strengthen our market position in Austria,” says Tipico CEO Axel Hefer. “We look forward to a successful future in the Austrian sports betting and gambling market.”

The Admiral Group

The Admiral Group consists of Admiral Sportwetten GmbH, the gaming division Admiral Casinos & Entertainment AG and the gastro division HTM Hotel und Tourismus Management GmbH. Admiral operates 200 locations in Austria, including more than a hundred gaming machine locations in the federal states of Burgenland, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Styria and Carinthia. The basis for this are licenses for “small gambling” from the federal states mentioned.

Admiral has been a sponsor of the Austrian football Bundesliga and men’s 2nd football league since the 2021/22 season; this contract runs until 2028. Admiral has been a sponsor of the women’s football Bundesliga for a long time.

Players in Germany

The Tipico Group was founded in 2004 by three Germans as a start-up in Malta.

Since 2016, Tipico has had a majority owner in the Luxembourg financial investor CVC Capital Partners, who took over 60 percent of the shares for 1.3 billion euros. CVC is one of the largest private equity companies in the world.

Today, Tipico directly employs more than a thousand people. In total, 6,000 people work for the company in more than a thousand acceptance points in Germany and Austria. Of these, 70 percent of the locations are owned by franchise partners. Tipico therefore operates the largest shop network in German-speaking countries. Four shops were recently opened in Vienna.

In addition to a partnership with the German Football Association and the German Football League (DFL), Tipico also sponsors the German Basketball Bundesliga and FC Bayern Munich.

Admiral and Tipico do not disclose sales figures. According to Firmencompass, the betting stake at Admiral Sportwetten GmbH alone will have amounted to more than one billion euros in 2023.