About this app
What is Sizzling Bells?
The deal is expected to provide around €115 million of pre-tax cash synergies per year from opex and interest cost savings. These synergies are expected to be realised by the third full year following completion.
Angelozzi is set to serve as the combined company’s chairman and CEO, while Lottomatica’s deputy CEO and CFO Laurence Van Lancker will assume the same role.
Hostench and Cirsa CFO Antonio Grau will also continue to lead the teams at Cirsa.
What is Sizzling Bells?
Illinois Gaming Board data obtained earlier this year by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that 502 gaming-related burglaries had been reported through June 22—already topping the 473 recorded during all of 2025. More than $1.5 million was stolen during the first half of 2026 across more than 100 municipalities.
The attacks have shown little sign of slowing. Earlier this month, law enforcement noted that a single crew is suspected in coordinated burglaries across Wheeling, New Lenox, and Peotone, where masked offenders armed with sledgehammers hit gaming venues within a 24-hour span.
New Lenox alone recorded at least 14 gaming-related smash-and-grab burglaries by early September.
How to play Sizzling Bells
Raja was reportedly permitted to access as much as £600,000 ($800,000) a day from his bank account to finance his casino play, according to The Telegraph.
“He would play and play, drink and drink, and if he didn’t lose all his money at the Palm Beach, he would then get in a car and go around the corner to the Colony Club,” the source told the newspaper.
The Telegraph noted that it does not claim any funds allegedly misappropriated from MFS were used to finance Raja’s gambling.
