Cirsa has acquired a majority stake in Sociedade Figueira Praia, the owner and operator of Casino Figueira in Figueira da Foz, giving the Spanish gaming group its first land-based casino in Portugal. The deal, announced on 20 July, pairs the retail venue with CasinoPortugal.pt, the online operator Cirsa bought in December 2024, and extends a strategy of running physical and digital gaming under one roof.
Cirsa did not disclose a price. The company said the acquisition will be funded from existing cash resources, that the transaction multiple is in line with its previous deals, and that it does not expect a material impact on the group’s leverage profile.
Casino Figueira has held a gaming licence since 1948, when it opened as Casino da Figueira, and Cirsa describes it as one of the most historic casinos on the Iberian Peninsula. Alongside its gaming floor, the venue runs a restaurant and events business on the Atlantic coast, drawing tourist traffic to a resort town south of Porto.
An omnichannel play in a growing market
The purchase gives Cirsa both sides of the Portuguese market: a licensed retail casino and an established online brand. The company frames the combination as a way to serve customers across retail and online channels, the same omnichannel model it runs in Spain and Latin America.
Portugal is one of Europe’s faster-growing regulated markets. Online gambling generated €1.21bn in gross gaming revenue in 2025, and the land-based casino sector adds tourism-driven footfall that Cirsa can now feed into the same customer base.
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.
That comment came from Joaquim Agut, Cirsa’s executive chairman, in the company’s statement on the deal.
Chief executive Antonio Hostench pointed to the venue’s existing operations and said the current owners would stay involved through the transition.
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.
Cirsa’s post-IPO expansion
The Figueira deal is the latest in a run of acquisitions since Cirsa listed on the Bolsa de Madrid in July 2025. That flotation, the largest Spanish IPO since 2015, valued the company at around €2.5bn and raised roughly €400m in fresh capital. Blackstone, which bought Cirsa from founder Manuel Lao Hernandez in 2018, retains control after floating a minority of the shares.
Cirsa reported net revenue above €2bn in 2024 and runs gaming across Spain, Italy, Morocco and Latin America, spanning more than 30,000 machines, bingo halls, casinos and arcades. Portugal and Puerto Rico were added to that footprint in 2024. The pace of dealmaking sits against a wider wave of consolidation among Spanish-facing operators, with rival Codere putting itself up for sale at a valuation above €2bn earlier this year.
For a group of Cirsa’s scale, the Figueira acquisition is small in financial terms, but it closes a gap in the Portuguese market. Cirsa now holds a retail licence and an online licence in the same jurisdiction, and its ability to route players between the two will test whether the omnichannel model travels. The company sits among the larger operators by revenue in Europe, a position tracked in industry rankings of the 15 largest gambling companies.
What Cirsa does next in Portugal will show whether Figueira is a one-off or the first step in building out a retail network to match its online reach.
Source: Cirsa
