CIRSA reported operating EBITDA of €202m for the second quarter of 2026, up 8.3% year on year and the first time the Spanish gaming and leisure group has cleared €200m in a single quarter. Operating revenue rose 10.1% to €637m.
The quarter was CIRSA’s 72nd consecutive period of operating profit growth, a run of 18 years. The comparison base is Q2 2025, when the group posted €187m in operating EBITDA on €579m of revenue.
For the first half, revenue increased 9.1% to €1.26bn and operating EBITDA rose 8.4% to €396m. Net profit for the six months was €94.7m, up 85% on H1 2025, a period in which foreign exchange movements cut into the bottom line. CIRSA said it expects to finish 2026 at the upper end of the guidance issued to the market, which puts full-year revenue at €2.5bn to €2.56bn and EBITDA at €800m to €820m.
Slots Spain records the fastest division growth
The Slots Spain division increased revenue by 11.2% and EBITDA by more than 17%. CIRSA credited selective acquisitions, cost savings from integrating them, productivity measures and demand for three machine ranges: Manhattan Mirage, Manhattan Premium and Manhattan Magic.
The pace has changed considerably. In Q2 2025 the same division grew revenue by 1.3%, the slowest of CIRSA’s business units that quarter.
Casinos division absorbs Peru and Morocco
The Casinos division grew across its markets. CIRSA completed five refurbishment projects under its Gold Mine capital programme during the quarter, including work at Casino Majestic Panama, and expanded six gaming halls in Andalusia and Catalonia. More than 700 new gaming machines were installed across the casino estate.
The group also pushed on with integrating its Peruvian and Moroccan businesses, taking out planned costs and moving both onto its management model. Peru has become a material contributor since the acquisition of Apuesta Total in July 2024: the country accounted for 9.8% of group EBITDA in H1 2025, up from 5.6% in FY2024.
Italy waits on the decree
CIRSA said it outperformed a declining amusement with prizes (AWP) market in Italy, while the video lottery terminal (VLT) segment held stable. The company said a delay to the anticipated regulatory decree could extend existing arrangements through 2027 and 2028, with a new tender potentially taking place in 2029.
That timetable matters for every concession holder in the country. Italy is one of Europe’s largest gambling markets, with online GGR alone above €5 billion a year, and a slipped tender leaves incumbents operating on extended concession terms into 2028.
Online revenue up 14.9% on a demanding base
Online gaming and sports betting revenue increased 14.9%, with CIRSA reporting record active player numbers and record customer acquisition. The final two weeks of the quarter covered the opening phase of the World Cup, which lifted commercial activity.
The comparison base is a hard one. Online revenue grew 64% to €139m in Q2 2025, when the segment absorbed its first full quarters of Apuesta Total, the Peruvian operator CIRSA bought in 2024. The division reached €270m in H1 2025 against a full-year target of more than €500m.
Acquisitions continue in Paraguay and Portugal
CIRSA said its liquidity position allows it to keep combining organic investment with M&A. Recent transactions took the group into Paraguay through a majority stake in Slots del Sol and expanded its Portuguese footprint with Casino Figueira, following the earlier purchase of a 68% holding in CasinoPortugal.
The group now operates 459 casinos and more than 85,000 gaming machines across 11 countries, alongside approximately 2,500 sports betting points. CIRSA listed on the Spanish stock exchanges on 9 July 2025 at €15 per share and used €373m of the proceeds to cut debt. Executive Chairman Joaquim Agut has run the group through the transition to public ownership.
The buy-side activity comes as domestic peer Codere explores a sale at a valuation above €2bn, leaving CIRSA as the acquirer in a Spanish market where the largest assets are changing hands.
What to watch in H2
Three questions carry into the second half. Whether Slots Spain holds double-digit growth once the acquisitions it absorbed this year pass their anniversaries. Whether the Italian decree lands in time to trigger a 2029 tender or slips again. And how much of the World Cup shows up in Q3, a quarter that captures the bulk of the tournament against the two weeks that fell inside Q2.
CIRSA reports Q3 2026 later in the year, at which point the guidance range narrows to a number.
Source: CIRSA
