Ladbrokes makes Mexican market entry

Ladbrokes has made its long-awaited entry into the Mexican online gaming market as part of its Sportium joint-venture with Spanish operator Cirsa.

Sportium’s sportsbook and gaming products were launched last week on the Casinolife.com.mx site operating under the licence of local brand Casino Life.

Mexico-based Casino Life is Cirsa’s land-based casino business and is licensed in the Mexican market, and Ladbrokes expects Cirsa’s offline presence in Latin America to help the joint-venture expand across the region.

Damian Cope, international managing director at Ladbrokes, said the Mexican expansion was “very much a first step in our plans, not the culmination”.

“The success we have had at building and launching brands in Belgium, Spain, Australia and now Mexico gives us confidence that we remain on track to build a portfolio of strong international businesses,” Cope said.

Slots, bingo and table games comprise the operator’s gaming offering while a SportiumBet-branded sportsbook has also been launched, supplied by Playtech subsidiary Geneity.

Ladbrokes’ outgoing CEO announced the firm’s intentions to expand into Mexico back in August 2013 when he outlined tentative plans to launch in early 2014.

However in June last year the bookmaker said its launch had been held back by regulatory issues in the country and that the site would not be up and running in time for last summer’s football World Cup.

Ladbrokes then targeted the September start of the 2014 NFL season, with American Football set to be a focus sport for the brand’s sportsbook.

In September last year Playtech struck an agreement with Mexican casino operator Caliente and an online casino was launched a month later.