Spanish gaming group Cirsa has expanded its Latin American footprint to a new market this Monday. The company announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Paraguayan online slot operator Slots del Sol, marking Cirsa's first entry into Paraguay—a small South American market that has just completed liberalization reforms of its gaming market and is rapidly releasing dividends. Executive Chairman Joaquín Agut characterized Paraguay as "a highly stable regulated market with strong fundamentals." The PASA official website noted that this is Cirsa's 130th+ acquisition since 2015, just one year after the company completed its IPO on the Spanish Stock Exchange in July 2025, raising approximately €2.5 billion (about $2.9 billion) for mergers and acquisitions expansion.
What Slots del Sol has: a website, two casinos, and two gaming halls
Slots del Sol operates its flagship website Slotsdelsolonline.com in Paraguay, and also owns two physical casinos and two gaming halls—a typical small-scale operator with an online-offline hybrid layout, perfectly fitting Cirsa's consistent strategy of full-channel integration. CEO Antonio Ostench described the target with the tags "exceptionally outstanding performance" and "prominent online operational capability," and specifically emphasized the expected profit margin improvement for the online department after integration—"Combining Cirsa's global experience with Slots del Sol's local expertise to drive future growth."
The financial side is also noteworthy. Cirsa emphasized that the transaction was paid entirely from existing cash reserves, without any substantial impact on financial leverage. Just a few days ago, the company successfully completed a €500 million debt issuance, which will be used to redeem a €375 million bond maturing in 2028. Left-hand debt issuance to optimize debt structure, right-hand cash acquisition to fill the Latin American puzzle—Cirsa's capital operation rhythm is continuously adding to its acquisition list in South America.
Paraguay just opened its doors last year: Breaking the monopoly led to a 22.9% annual market growth
Cirsa's choice to enter Paraguay in the summer of 2026 is no coincidence. Last year, the country passed milestone legislation liberalizing the gaming market, breaking the previous monopoly and opening the doors to private operators. Carlos Licerias, chairman of the Paraguayan National Gaming Commission, gave a straightforward reason for entering the market to iGB last May: "Paraguay not only has a gaming law that decentralizes the monopoly, but also has the lowest tax burden in the entire region, and Paraguay itself has become an important tourist destination." The data also supports his statement—In 2025, Paraguay's gaming market total revenue reached PYG 215.9 billion (about $32.6 million), setting a historical record with a year-on-year growth of 22.9%.
Cirsa's current layout in Latin America already covers Peru (in collaboration with Apuesta Total), Colombia (Sportium), and various locations in Mexico. With the addition of Paraguay, the Latin American business line now spans four countries. PASA's official website believes that the highlight of Cirsa's deal in Paraguay is not the scale—Slots del Sol's revenue volume compared to Cirsa's €2.5 billion valuation is just a decimal point—but in its timely market entry just after the liberalization window opened. Entering when the tax burden is the lowest in the region, the market has just opened, and the local leading targets are still small and medium-sized operators, is much more cost-effective than waiting for the market to mature and then spending a lot of money to grab a share. Cirsa's experience with 130+ acquisitions tells the market one thing: in regulated markets, the licenses and local networks of the first movers themselves are the biggest acquisition premium protection.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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