SportPesa, Africa’s leading gaming firm, has acquired a 75 percent stake in RCS Gaming, a licensed gaming operator, thereby marking its entry into the Italian market.

The deal will see RCS Gaming’s licensed Gazzabet.it operation re-branded to SportPesa.

The acquisition of RCS Gaming – which is part of RCS Media Group – was carried out through holding company SportPesa Global.

The newly appointed Chairman of the company in Italy, Adam Beighton, says the acquisition of RCS Gaming will enable rapid expansion in Italy.

“This acquisition also presents new opportunities to showcase to our current and future customers the SportPesa culture,” Beighton said.

Gazzabet.it was a joint online sports betting and casino collaboration between Playtech and RCS Gaming which launched late 2014 but the operation has not gained particularly significant traction in the market.

Italy is the biggest gambling and betting market in Europe with sports betting reaching Sh41.6 billion in 2016.

In May this year, SportPesa Tanzania entered a five-year partnership deal with Vodacom Premier League titans, Simba SC.

The partnership deal came only three days after the SportPesa services were launched in Tanzania and will commence officially at the start of the 2017/18 season.