Cirsa acquires Casino Figueira in land-based Portugal expansion

Key Points

• Cirsa acquired a controlling stake in Sociedade Figueira Praia, the operator of Casino Figueira of Figueira da Foz, giving itself its first entry into the land-based gambling market of Portugal.
• This partnership goes hand-in-hand with Cirsa’s purchase of CasinoPortugal.pt in December 2024, thus forming an omnichannel platform in Portugal’s regulated market environment.
• The transaction follows a majority stake in Paraguay’s Slots del Sol just one week earlier, as Cirsa accelerates its M&A pace on the back of record Q1 2026 revenues.

With its most recent move, Cirsa will control both parts of the Portuguese gambling market. On the 20th July 2026, the Spanish company made an announcement of the acquisition of majority shares in Sociedade Figueira Praia, the firm that operates Casino Figueira located in Figueira da Foz. No figures were provided for the transaction. For Cirsa, however, it is not important in terms of numbers. It is important in terms of positioning.

Casino Figueira is located on the Portuguese Atlantic Coast to the west of Coimbra. The venue has been operating under a gaming license since 1948. Initially called Casino da Figueira, this casino is more than a gamble in terms of income sources. In addition to gambling, there is also a restaurant, a private room, and live entertainment at the venue.

Cirsa’s First Land-Based Casino in Portugal

Until this deal, Cirsa’s Portuguese footprint was entirely digital. The company established itself in Portugal through the acquisition of a 68% majority interest in the website CasinoPortugal.pt in December 2024 following the clearance of the deal by the Portuguese authorities, such as the Competition Authority, Comissão de Jogos, and SRIJ. The website provides both gambling services and sports betting facilities.

Casino Figueira changes the structure entirely. Cirsa can now serve Portuguese players online and walk them through the door of an established land-based venue. The company called the deal “fully aligned” with its omnichannel strategy, which it has built market by market across more than a decade of acquisitions.

Joaquim Agut, Executive Chairman of Cirsa, was direct about what this represents: “Casino Figueira becomes Cirsa’s first land-based casino in Portugal, representing a new milestone in our company’s history. Together with the acquisition of CasinoPortugal.pt in 2024, this transaction enhances our ability to deliver a fully integrated gaming and entertainment offering across both online and retail channels.”

Antonio Hostench, CEO of Cirsa, added: “Casino Figueira is a landmark asset within Portugal’s entertainment industry, with a strong track record and a management team that brings deep market expertise. We are delighted to welcome the casino into the Group and to count on the continued support of its current shareholders during this new phase. This transaction reinforces our presence in Portugal and represents a decisive step forward in our omnichannel growth strategy in Europe.”

What Portugal’s Physical Casino Market Actually Looks Like?

Portugal’s physical casino market is not booming; it’s holding. The casino and machines contributed gross gaming revenue of approximately €65 million during the quarter ending 2026, which was only up by 0.8% compared to the first quarter of the previous year. In the year 2025, the overall gross gaming revenue fell by 1.2%, despite good results in the first half of the year, due to poor third and fourth quarters.

The gross gaming revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 stood at €69.8 million, which reflected a fall of 3.8% as compared to the same period of previous years. Gross gaming revenue generated by automatic machines accounted for 79% of the total amount. There was an increase of 2.3% in gaming revenue from machines while there was a fall of 22.7% in gaming revenue from table games.

Casino Figueira’s revenue mix therefore matters. Its machines, hospitality operation, and events business offer Cirsa multiple income streams inside a single historic property. A venue operating since 1948 carries a local customer base that an online platform cannot replicate on its own.

One Week, Two Countries: The Paraguay Deal and What It Tells You

Casino Figueira was not Cirsa’s only acquisition announcement in July 2026. Just one week before the Portuguese deal, the company acquired a majority stake in Slots del Sol, a Paraguayan omnichannel operator running an iGaming platform alongside two physical casinos and two gaming halls. Paraguay was a new market for Cirsa entirely.

Hostench described the Paraguay rationale in terms of online profitability: “Slots del Sol has demonstrated exceptional performance, with outstanding capabilities in online operations. The transaction will contribute to improving the margins of our online gaming business.”

Two acquisitions in seven days, on two different continents, both financed with existing cash. The pace is not accidental. Cirsa stated in its Q1 2026 results commentary that its liquidity position would support “a potential acceleration of corporate M&A activity in the coming months,” and the company has since followed through on that signal twice.

A Portfolio Already Stretched Across Three Continents

Portugal and Paraguay join an international estate that Cirsa has assembled largely since its 2025 IPO on the Madrid Stock Exchange, which raised around €453 million. The group currently operates casinos and gaming halls in Italy, Morocco, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, in addition to its home market of Spain.

The Peru position is worth noting specifically. Cirsa completed the acquisition of four casinos belonging to the Dreams gaming group in December 2025, comprising the Casinos New York, Luxor, Pachanga, and Mystic located in Lima and Cuzco. This comes after an earlier acquisition of Apuesta Total that has made Cirsa the largest gaming company in Peru. The acquisition of the Marrakech casino was also completed in December 2025. The group runs over 85,000 gaming machines in its estate.

This is a bolt-on acquisition strategy executed at volume. Cirsa consistently targets regulated markets where it already has scale or can access adjacent customer segments, finances each deal from existing cash, and flags publicly that the transaction multiples are consistent with prior deals. The Casino Figueira announcement repeated that pattern precisely, noting the acquisition would be funded from existing cash reserves with no material impact on the group’s leverage profile.

The Financial Engine Backing All of It

The firm announced an income of €2.34 billion for the group in 2025, an 8.8% growth compared to last year, while the income from the Internet business increased by 25.8% to €528.9 million. The net income increased by 165.5% to €117.6 million. EBITDA reached €746.6 million, a 6.8% increase on the prior year.

Q1 2026 extended that trajectory. Net operating revenue reached a record €623 million, an 8% year-on-year increase, with EBITDA up 8.5% to €193.9 million and adjusted net profit rising 32.8% to €69.9 million. Gaming retail was the driver of profits, whereas online sales rose by 22.4%. As per guidance, Cirsa expects its revenues to be in the range of €2.5 billion to €2.56 billion, and EBITDA is expected to be in the range of €800 million to €820 million for 2026.

The stock of Cirsa on the Madrid stock exchange opened 2026 at €14.52, and at the time of making this announcement, it was being traded at €13.46, at the time of this announcement, recovering from a six-month low of €12.22 hit on 24 June.

Expert Analysis

Casino Figueira is not a trophy buy. Cirsa already held the online licence in Portugal; what it lacked was the physical anchor that makes omnichannel a genuine operational reality rather than a strategy slide. A venue licensed since 1948, with an established hospitality footprint and a tourist corridor location, delivers that anchor in a market where physical casino revenue has been flat, not collapsing.

The deal also arrives during one of the most active M&A windows in Cirsa’s history. Two acquisitions in a week, across two new markets, both cash-funded, both fitting the bolt-on template the group has been refining since 2015. Portugal’s market may not be growing fast, but Cirsa is not banking on Portugal to grow. It is building a structure where online retention and physical engagement reinforce each other, and Casino Figueira is the physical piece that the Portuguese structure was missing. Whether that converts to meaningful revenue uplift will depend on how efficiently Cirsa integrates the venue’s hospitality and events business into a wider customer journey; but the strategic logic, at least, is not in question.