Sportium is a sports betting venture between Cirsa Slot and Ladbrokes and they have now won a license to operate in Spain's Madrid region. Ladbrokes counts online bingo to be among their many online gaming interests. Now their Spanish online bingo games market is being tipped by many online bingo industry watchers for growth.

The venture plans to open up to seventy outlets now that they have gotten their license. In 2007 Ladbrokes and Cirsa Slot announced a 30 million Euro investment in their joint venture and forecasted the establishment of more then 150 betting points with up to 150 new jobs being created as a result.

The focus will be on sporting bets initially and will cover a broad range of sports that will include; golf, basketball, soccer, flat racing and many more. At this time it isn't clear if Ladbrokes will capitalize on their online bingo operations to forge a foothold in the fledging Spanish market. The venture is expecting to turn over around Euro 80 million in their first year.









- 2008-04-22