Tipsport Co-Owner Built a Billion-Crown School — But Can't Fill the Classrooms

Vrastislav Randa, co-owner of the betting company Tipsport, says the private school he founded — Via Beroun, just outside Prague — is only about half full. The problem isn't a lack of interest, he explains, but legal restrictions on how many pupils the school is allowed to enrol. He spoke about the project in an interview with Seznam Zprávy.

The idea for the school first came up among Tipsport's co-owners back in 2016, when the company decided to take a more systematic approach to charity work — alongside education, it also supports environmental and independent journalism initiatives. The plot of land near Beroun was bought years ago, but preparing the building took seven years, and the school only opened last year. Total investment in the project has topped one billion crowns.

Why the school can't take in everyone who wants a spot

The school is headed by Petr Hopfinger, who previously worked at well-known private schools such as OpenGate, Porg and Duhovka. According to him, parental interest far outstrips what the state actually allows. "We have huge amounts of free space and plenty of empty classrooms, but we simply can't take in children — there's a cap on enrolment," Randa explains.

Under a ministry directive, the regional authority has allowed the school to admit just 37 additional children this year compared to last. As Hopfinger explains, private schools outside the mandatory catchment-area system are only permitted to increase their intake by a maximum of 1% of total capacity per year — and since other private schools also operate in the Beroun area, that further limits how quickly enrolment can grow.

Losses running into the millions despite half-empty classrooms

Designed to hold 640 students, the school currently has around 300 enrolled. The empty classrooms still need to be heated and maintained regardless, so the company has to cover the shortfall out of its own pocket. "This year that will come to around 30 million crowns," Randa says, adding that once the school reaches full capacity — with tuition at 190,000 crowns a year — it should break even operationally. The billion-crown investment itself, however, will never be recouped.

Teaching at the school is bilingual: for younger pupils, English makes up a third of the curriculum, while at the upper secondary (gymnázium) level, older students study entirely in English. According to the school's leadership, parents aren't put off by the school's ties to a betting company — quite the opposite, in fact, since many appreciate having a large, financially stable firm backing the institution.

A crypto licence and a look back at the betting year

Beyond the school project, Tipsport is also expanding into another area: its Pluso service, which handles virtual currency transactions, recently received a MiCA licence from the Czech National Bank, allowing it to legally offer crypto services across the entire European Union. "It's still just the beginning, but I believe we'll turn this into a sizeable business before long," Randa says.

As for the company's core business, it was a stable year for Tipsport overall: despite the Olympics and the football and hockey world championships, figures rose by only a few percentage points compared to a typical year. According to a representative of rival bookmaker Fortuna, total wagers placed on the recent football World Cup reached 1.6 billion crowns, making it the most heavily bet-on tournament in history.

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Source: seznamzpravy.cz