About this app
What is Billie Wild?
Beyond SunBet’s growth, another highlight of Sun International’s H1 was a return to growth for its land-based casino segment, for the first time in three years.
Revenue from land-based casinos increased 1.5% to R3.42 billion, while Sun International’s market share in South Africa grew 2.3% to 49%.
Land-based gross profit dipped 0.7% to R2 billion, however, with the company’s investment in the segment increasing over the period.
About Billie Wild
In October 2024 the then-prosecutor general ordered the freezing of e-wallets and the suspension of mobile lines used by betting agents. Separately, in February this year, officials said regulators were working with the telecoms authority and the media council towards blocking about 80% of betting applications by the end of that month.
Ahmed Badawi, who chairs the House communications committee, said in May that the government would amend the anti-cybercrime law to name online betting explicitly. Life imprisonment was discussed for the gravest offences. No bill number or text has been published.
A separate private member’s bill was tabled by MP Martha Mahrous in January 2025. It proposed prison terms of two to five years and multi-million-Egyptian-pound fines for promoters, agents and payment facilitators. It has also gone nowhere.
What is Billie Wild?
The premium reflects both the control premium paid to the sellers and Merkur’s valuation for majority ownership.
As Merkur’s acquisition of Casigrangi would grant indirect control over SFC, French regulations require Merkur to launch a simplified mandatory tender offer for the remaining SFC shares it does not already hold.
This tender offer will be at the same price of €6.19 per share.
