German gaming and gambling company Gauselmann Group has finished acquiring the four Nordrhein-Westfalen casinos operated by Westdeutsche Spielbanken. Gauselmann completed this acquisition by buying NRW.Bank’s shares of WestSpiel in a $168.3 million deal.

Gauselmann Acquiring Four New Casinos

This acquisition was largely thanks to the Nordrhein-Westfalen’s Ministry of the Interior and Warth & Klein Grant Thornton AG launching a tender process for the privatization of WestSpiel’s and selling the shares held by NRW.Bank at the beginning of 2021.

Gauselmann won the tender in July and inked an acquisition deal for WestSpiel. The deal was reviewed by the region’s relevant authorities and finally approved two days ago, on September 1.

Thanks to this acquisition, Gauselmann will now fortify its market position with a land-based gambling monopoly in the locale. Additionally, if Gauselmann decides, it will be allowed to open up to two more casinos in the region. Gauselmann is yet to announce any such intentions as the group will likely be occupied with the integration of the newly acquired casinos first.

Integrating the Casinos Into the New Owner’s Business

The relevant parties released statements on the historic deal that will see Gauselmann as a leader on the Nordrhein-Westfalen market for more than a decade. 

Paul Gauselmann, the founder of the group himself, said that he is looking forward to working with the pre-existing employees of the four WestSpiel casinos. 

“Together, we will make the casinos in North Rhine-Westphalia even more successful,” Gauselmann solemnly announced.

Gauselmann is known as a vocal public figure in the European gambling space. This March, he wrote letter to UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to express that Britain’s decision to not reopen adult gaming centers on April 12 has left him disappointed. Gauselmann asked the politician to rethink his stance.

The managing director of Merkur Spielbanken, David Schnabel, revealed that his party had used the time between the inking of the contract and its eventual approval as a preparation window. In that time frame, he took care of everything needed for the final assimilation of the four casinos into Gauselmann Group.

“In addition to the technical and organizational aspects, the focus was in particular on the personal introduction of the management to the colleagues in the casino locations and the headquarters in Duisburg,” Schnabel explained.

He also revealed that he’s planned to discuss the future of the casinos with everyone involved in the following weeks. In the meantime, Schnabel has scheduled welcome parties that will entertain the new colleagues in the Schloss Benkhausen training center.