Cirsa Acquires Majority Stake in Paraguay’s Slots del Sol, Expanding Latin American Footprint

Spanish gaming giant Cirsa has acquired a majority stake in Slots del Sol, an online slots operator in Paraguay, marking the company’s first entry into the South American nation. The deal extends Cirsa’s aggressive acquisition run, which has now topped 130 completed transactions over the past decade.

The move adds Paraguay to Cirsa’s growing Latin American footprint and reflects a broader push by the company to expand its casino and online gaming operations across the region as new markets open to private operators.

A Fourth Latin American Market for Cirsa

With the Slots del Sol transaction, Cirsa now holds operations in four Latin American markets. The company already operates in Peru through a partnership with Apuesta Total and in Colombia through Sportium, in addition to its existing presence in Mexico. Paraguay becomes the newest addition to that portfolio.

Cirsa Executive Chairman Joaquim Agut described Paraguay as “an attractive and highly stable regulated market, with strong fundamentals,” signaling the company’s confidence in the country’s long-term growth potential following its regulatory overhaul.

CEO Antonio Hostench pointed to Slots del Sol’s “exceptional performance” and “outstanding capabilities in online operations,” adding that combining Cirsa’s global experience with the local expertise of Slots del Sol will “drive future growth” and improve margins within the company’s online division. Slots del Sol currently operates two land-based casinos and two gaming halls across Paraguay, giving Cirsa both a digital and physical presence in the market from day one.

Part of a Decade-Long M&A Strategy

Cirsa characterized the purchase as consistent with the “aggressive M&A strategy” it laid out last year, noting that as of July 2025 the company had completed more than 130 acquisitions over the preceding decade. The Slots del Sol deal is the latest in that long run of consolidation moves across the gaming industry.

The acquisition follows Cirsa’s July 2025 listing on Spanish stock exchanges, an IPO that raised capital specifically intended to fund further merger and acquisition activity. At the time of that listing, the company targeted a total market valuation of 2.5 billion euros, or roughly $2.9 billion.

The Slots del Sol purchase also comes just days after Cirsa completed a 500 million euro (about $569 million) bond offering. Proceeds from that offering are intended to redeem a 375 million euro (about $427 million) bond set to mature in 2028, part of the company’s broader debt management strategy.

According to Cirsa, the Slots del Sol transaction was financed entirely from the company’s available cash reserves. The purchase price aligns with valuation multiples observed in prior industry deals, and the company said the acquisition will not materially affect its financial leverage.

Paraguay’s Newly Opened Gambling Market

The timing of the deal lines up with major regulatory change in Paraguay. The country passed legislation last year ending its longstanding gambling monopoly, opening the market to private operators for the first time and setting the stage for exactly the kind of entry Cirsa has now made.

That shift has already paid dividends for the local market. Following the change in regulation, Paraguay’s gambling market generated 215.9 billion Paraguayan guarani, equivalent to about $32.6 million, in 2025, the highest figure on record for the country. That total represents a 22.9% increase over 2024, underscoring the growth trajectory that likely made Slots del Sol an appealing target for Cirsa.

For bettors and operators watching the broader sportsbook and gaming industry, Cirsa’s move into Paraguay is another example of established European operators looking to Latin America for growth as regulated markets multiply across the region. With Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and now Paraguay under its umbrella, Cirsa continues to position itself as one of the more active consolidators in Latin American gaming, and further deals in the region would not be surprising given the company’s stated M&A ambitions and available capital following its 2025 IPO and bond refinancing.

Why Latin America Keeps Attracting Global Operators

Paraguay’s experience mirrors a pattern seen across several Latin American countries in recent years, where legislative reform has opened previously closed or monopolized gambling markets to competition. Once regulators establish a licensing framework, established international groups like Cirsa tend to move quickly, using acquisitions rather than organic buildouts to secure market share and local operational knowledge in one step.

That approach lets a company like Cirsa skip years of infrastructure and licensing work by buying into an operator that already understands local casino customers, land-based venues, and online betting habits. For Slots del Sol, the transaction brings the backing of a much larger international group with decades of experience navigating regulated gaming markets across Europe and Latin America.

The deal also illustrates how capital raised through public listings and bond offerings is increasingly being funneled directly into market expansion rather than sitting on the balance sheet. Cirsa’s 2025 IPO was explicitly framed around funding further acquisitions, and the Slots del Sol deal, financed from cash on hand just days after the company closed its bond offering, shows that strategy already in motion. Industry observers will likely watch to see whether Cirsa pursues additional targets in other newly regulated Latin American markets as it continues to scale its online division.