Following its acquisition of Lotto24 this year, Zeal Network, the online provider of sate-run lotteries in Germany, reports the merger now fully consolidated.

It also reported that group operating performance rose 26 per cent to €179.4m in the first half of the year.

This, it said, had been partially driven by Lotto24 but also offset by negative effects from the closure of Lotto Network and Ventura24 at the end of last year.

Jonas Mattsson, CFO at Zeal, said: “Even though we still have a lot of work to do, we are well on our way to achieving reunification with Lotto24 and the transformation of our German core business into online lottery brokerage as planned.

"We are convinced that the combination of the two companies will provide the best path to sustainable growth for the Zeal Group.”