An Athens itemizing has created the world’s second largest gaming firm. Lastly, Europe has a #2 world participant

Skoda, Urquell Pilsner and Václav Havel. The variety of world manufacturers related to the Czech Republic are few. When Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, paid homage to Havel, the primary democratically elected president of what was then Czechoslovakia, in a speech he made at Davos this 12 months, many turned to Google to refresh their recollections. Now, a brand new participant could also be added to the listing.

Karel Komárek is a Czech billionaire who began shopping for stakes in nation lotteries in 2011. The Czech Republic’s Sazka was the primary, Greek gaming agency OPAP was the second. Renamed Allwyn, the corporate now additionally owns lotteries and gaming firms within the U.Ok., Italy, Austria, and the states of Michigan and Illinois. Its most up-to-date acquisition was PrizePicks, the American fantasy sports activities operator.

Komárek is a uncommon breed. The proprietor of a Europe-based enterprise (Allwyn’s headquarters are actually in Lucerne, Switzerland) which has turn into a top-two operator in its area globally. In 2024, revenues topped $10bn. A 12 months later, Allwyn’s valuation touched $18.6bn. Only the Irish-American playing enterprise, Flutter, is greater.

Last month, Allwyn was listed on the Athens inventory trade. Now its leaders are eyeing the London and New York exchanges as potential secondary properties.

€8.9 billion

Total income 2025

€509 million

Total revenue 2025

Source: Allwyn International Q4 2025 preliminary results

“We are definitely a story of inspiration for many Czech companies to show them it’s possible to grow internationally,” Robert Chvátal, Allwyn CEO, tells me. “Actually, it’s not just possible. It’s mandatory.”

Swaddled in rules and working codes, nationwide lotteries function just a little like utilities firms do—providing secure returns over lengthy contract durations. Add in racier gaming and playing pursuits too, and Chvátal argues, you’ve gotten a sexy combine.

“Lotteries are great,” he says. “They have scale. But they are fairly mature businesses. It’s a good start. It’s a good base. But if you want to grow further, and if you say ‘We will be listed’, shareholders or investors will ask if there is a growth story. Or is it just a stable, almost utility-like, type of profile, which is more of a yield type of stock?”

“I say we are actually a combo of both. We are a solid yield—if you take the current stock price to the communicated dividend, it’s a 6% yield, not too bad in euro terms—but, at the same time, because of the product diversification and because of the geographical diversification, we are also a growth story.”

“We are definitely a story of inspiration for many Czech companies to show them it’s possible to grow internationally.”

Robert Chvátal, CEO, Allwyn

With the battle within the Gulf cratering fairness markets world wide and fears that funding overstretch might deliver the know-how hyperscalers to heel, uncomplicated bread-and-butter companies like lotteries are a flight-to-safety possibility.

Whatever the extent of geopolitical volatility, hundreds of thousands of individuals like to purchase an opportunity to win large at astonishingly lengthy odds. When Communist Czechoslovakia banned most lotteries and closed the state-run sports activities playing firm, Staska, in 1953, unlawful playing flourished. Sazka was launched three years later and a state lottery began in 1957. Even the Soviets couldn’t management the urge for a flutter.

Read extra: Rishi Sunak is giving advice to CEOs on AI. Here are his golden rules

Jokes about Eastern European enterprise requirements are actually a distant reminiscence (“How do you double the value of a Skoda? Fill it with petrol” has a moldy really feel, now that Skoda is owned by VW).

“What resonates with us, if you recall Mark Carney’s speech, is his reference to the ‘middle powers’,” Chvátal says. “He actually quoted our first president, Václav Havel, and his essay The Power of the Powerless. The middle powers could become relevant.” In its chosen area, Allwyn is greater than a center energy. And for Europe, that’s too uncommon an incidence.

This story was initially featured on Fortune.com