Merkur Group

Paul Gauselmann founded the business in Espelkamp, Germany, in 1957, initially with music boxes and then gaming machines. The Gauselmann Group became the dominant supplier and operator in the German amusement-with-prizes market under the Merkur brand, and expanded into casino machines, sports betting and online. It reports around 15,000 employees and about EUR 2.1bn of consolidated revenue across five divisions.

The Gauselmann-to-Merkur change is a legal rename, not a marketing exercise: the holding company Gauselmann AG became MERKUR.COM AG with effect from 1 January 2024, entered in the commercial register, and adp Gauselmann became adp MERKUR GmbH; ownership stayed with the Gauselmann Family Foundation. Paul Gauselmann stepped down as management board chairman on 1 October 2024. Its online interests sit in subsidiaries rather than the manufacturing entity: edict eGaming in Hamburg, founded 1998, is the platform and aggregation arm that puts Merkur games into online casinos, and Blueprint Gaming in Newark, England, operates as an independently branded studio. The group has continued to acquire under the new name, including Gaming Arts and Oasis Retail Services in 2025.