State lottery company looks to expand abroad

State-owned lottery company Szerencsejatek has the know-how and the capital to weigh an expansion abroad, CEO Gabor Czepek said in the latest issue of news weekly Figyelo.

Czepek said Szerencsejatek could consider entering the “less-risky” business of online sports betting on foreign markets that “have a culture similar to the market in Hungary”.

“That’s the short-term goal. If we successfully overcome the hurdles, we could mull operating a sales network abroad through a greenfield investment or through an acquisition, but that’s a more complicated task,” he added.

He told the weekly that Szerencsejatek targets a revenue increase of “more than 15 percent” this year, raising sales over 650 billion forints (EUR 1.9bn) from last year’s 574 billion.

He noted that last year’s revenue went up by 6 percent from a record revenue in 2019 and exceeded the target in the business plan.

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