"The decrease was largely due to measures against the spread of coronavirus, when we closed part of the branches. This was mainly the case in Greece and Italy. In the Czech Republic and Austria, the impacts were smaller. "said Robert Chvátal, CEO of the company. According to him, the future impact of the measures on companies and the economy as a whole is difficult to predict. "But it is clear that the pandemic has allowed us to accelerate our strategy of increasing the share of online betting," Chvátal added.

Prague - Net profit of Sazka Group of the betting company Sazka Group from the KKCG group of entrepreneur Karel Komárek in this year's first. in the first half of the year it fell by 71 percent year-on-year to 42 million euros (1.17 billion crowns). Gross revenues from accepted bets fell by 28 percent to 651.9 million euros (17.3 billion crowns). The company told ČTK in its report.

"The decrease was largely due to measures against the spread of coronavirus, when we closed part of the branches. This was mainly the case in Greece and Italy. In the Czech Republic and Austria, the impacts were smaller. "said Robert Chvátal, CEO of the company.

According to him, the future impact of the measures on companies and the economy as a whole is difficult to predict. "But it is clear that the pandemic has allowed us to accelerate our strategy of increasing the share of online betting," Chvátal added.

In June, Sazka Group became the majority owner of the Austrian lottery company Casinos Austria with a share of 55.48 percent, when it completed the acquisition of 17.19 percent from the Austrian company Novomatic. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed by the company. According to information from the APA agency, however, the value of the share that Sazka acquired from Novomatic is over 100 million euros (approximately 2.65 billion CZK).

In the first half of the year, Sazka Group also increased its stake in the largest Greek betting company OPAP, which, according to Chvátal, is also the fourth largest betting company in Europe. It now owns 40 percent of it.

Sazka Group also has shares in the Czech company Sazka (100 percent) and the Italian company LottoItalia (32.5 percent). The 100% owner of the Sazka Group is the KKCG group.

Last year, the group increased its net profit by 35 percent year-on-year to 311 million euros (8.3 billion crowns). Gross revenues from accepted bets rose by six percent to 1.91 billion euros (50.9 billion crowns).

https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/zisk-sazka-group-v-pololeti-klesl-o-71-na-1-17-miliardy-kc/1931584