Ladbrokes and Cirsa Slot Corporation SL have established a 50:50 joint venture company (JV) to develop a sports betting business in Spain.

The JV will combine Ladbrokes, the world’s biggest bookmaker, with operations in the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Italy with Cirsa Slot, the leading slot machine company in Spain. Cirsa Slot accounts for 9% of the Spanish slot machine market, servicing over 15,000 food and beverage outlets with gaming areas and 90 arcades. The company is a division of CIRSA Corporation, which owns and operates casinos, arcades and bingo halls throughout the country.

The JV company will apply for the new betting licences being offered in Madrid where a new decree was passed in December 2006 regulating dedicated betting shops, non-dedicated betting kiosks (bars, arcades and bingo halls) and remote betting (telephone and Internet) for the first time. Applications for the licences, which initially last five years, but are renewable, will be submitted to the Madrid regional government when requested, likely to be by mid-January.

The JV will also work to secure betting licences in other areas of Spain that are also considering regulating betting for the first time. Several of the other 16 regions of Spain are believed to be actively considering similar betting regulation. The Spanish gambling market was worth around €29bn last year.*

Christopher Bell, Chief Executive of Ladbrokes plc commented: "This represents another major step forward in our international aspirations. In December we opened our first shops in Italy and successfully tendered for new licences. Now we have formed a JV with a market leader in Spain that gives us access to a network of thousands of potential site operators. As soon as regulation allows we are confident that the combination of Ladbrokes' vast experience and expertise in betting and the local knowledge and operational capability of Cirsa will build a strong business in Spain."