The Gauselmann Group has been operating casinos in Saxony-Anhalt since 2013. The company has also been involved in Spielbank Berlin since 2016 and in three casinos in Rhineland-Palatinate since 2019.
The four state-owned North Rhine-Westphalian casinos in Aachen, Bad Oeynhausen, Dortmund-Hohensyburg and Duisburg have a new owner: the Gauselmann gaming group.
The previous owner, NRW.Bank, announced on Wednesday that Gauselmann Spielbanken Beteiligungs GmbH had won the bid for the Westspiel Group in the sales process that was initiated last year. The purchase contract was signed on Tuesday. However, it still requires the approval of the antitrust authorities.
Neither side provided any information about the purchase price. The award in the bidding competition not only secures the family company control over the four existing casinos in North Rhine-Westphalia, which with around 900 employees achieved gaming revenues of over 117 million euros in 2019, but also gives the company the option of two more casinos in North Rhine-Westphalia open, as Gauselmann emphasized. The casinos in Aachen, Bad Oyenhausen, Dortmund and Duisburg will continue to operate under the name “Merkur” casinos.
Company founder Paul Gauselmann spoke of a milestone in more than 60 years of company history. The company can now show in its home state of North Rhine-Westphalia that it has mastered the “high school” of the game with and for money. According to its own information, the Gauselmann Group employs around 14,000 people worldwide and recently had annual sales of around 3.5 billion euros.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
