bwin , formerly known as Betandwin.com (until 2006 ), is an Austrian brand of online gambling company owned by GVC Holdings , one of the largest international bookmakers [1] . The group operates under international and regional licenses in countries and regions such as Gibraltar , the Kahnawake territory in Canada , Germany , Italy , Mexico , Austria and the UK . Headquarters are located in Vienna , Stockholm and Gibraltar . In 2017, the brand was introduced in Russia as the first legal online bookmaker from abroad [2] .
| bwin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type of | Public company |
| Exchange listing | WBAG : 767553 |
| Base | 1997 |
| Successor | bwin |
| Location |  Vienna , Austria |
| Industry | gambling , entertainment |
| Website | sports.bwin.ru/ru/sports… |
Content
- 1 Company History
- 2 Company Activities and Products
- 2.1 In Russia
- 3 Legal issues
- 4 Sponsorship
- 5 Awards
- 6 Incidents
- 7 notes
- 8 References
Company History
bwin began operations in 1997 with 12 employees called betandwin in Vienna . Betandwin launched its first gambling site in 1998, focusing its activities on the growing sports betting market. One of the most important events in the history of the company was the launch of bets in real time, allowing players to bet on sports events live [3] .
The company's first public appearance on the Austrian stock exchange took place in March 2000. In June 2001, betandwin acquired Simon Bold ( Gibraltar ), which is now known as bwin International Ltd. - So all the legal activities of the company are concentrated in Gibraltar. This was undertaken in order to follow some of the company's largest competitors in British Overseas Territory . By December 2001, betandwin was ready to enter the online casino market and launched its first platform designed for this.
In June 2005, the group acquired betoto.com to expand its presence in the Greek market, a company offering fixed-rate betting services to players around the world. December of that year was marked by another major acquisition - the takeover of Ongame e-Solutions AB. This acquisition was part of a group strategy to expand its presence in the poker market. After the takeover of Ongame e-Solutions, the company name changed to bwin Games. Back in 2005, betandwin acquired media rights outside Germany in the German football league. In August 2006, betandwin rebranded and became known as bwin. Then it became apparent that the betandwin brand, described as “informative, upscale and functional,” no longer fits the wide range of entertainment offered by the company, including sports betting, poker, online games and casinos. In 2007, bwin began offering live coverage of major sporting events [3] .
In September 2009, bwin announced the acquisition of the Italian poker operator Gioco Digitale, which marked the company's entry into the Italian online gambling market [4] [5] .
On April 1, 2011, bwin and the British gaming company PartyGaming announced a merger. The new company, bwin.party, has become the world's largest public online gaming firm, with 48.4% owned by PartyGaming, and 51.6% owned by bwin. Shares of the combined company began to be quoted on the London Stock Exchange with the participation of CEO Norbert Teufelberger and Jim Ryan. In 2014, bwin.party interested GVC Holdings, which by 2016 absorbed bwin.party for $ 1.5 billion [3] [6] . In 2018, GVC Holdings also acquired the bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral , which is estimated at $ 5.55 billion [7] .
Company Activities and Products
According to the data for 2018, the Austrian brand “bwin” belongs to one of the world's largest online gambling companies GVC Holdings whose headquarters are on the Isle of Man . Holding's betting resources in 2016 ensured an increase in the total volume of rates by 4% - up to € 4.55 billion, and the total income from sports betting increased by 14% - up to € 654 million [7] .
Bwin affiliates and subsidiaries offer sports betting, poker, casino games and online games, as well as audio and video broadcasts of sporting events, including popular tournaments in key sports. Bwin's core business is online sports betting. The company offers a choice of more than 90 different sports, among which the key is football, which daily accounts for up to 10,000 types of bets [8] . bwin operates in the Russian legal field and offers one of the widest types of sporting events. In addition, the line also includes bets on politics and entertainment, including the Oscars , talent shows , the Eurovision Song Contest , beauty contests and more.
In Russia
On June 7, 2017, at a special press conference, it was announced that bwin would begin official activities in Russia . Digital Betting LLC, with the support of Rambler & Co, an Internet holding company, has signed a long-term agreement with GVC Holdings on the use of a technology platform in the Russian market under the bwin.ru brand. GVC Holdings is responsible for an innovative platform for accepting bets (desktop and mobile versions, applications for mobile devices), the entire range of trading and risk management, Rambler & Co, in turn, for assistance in attracting an audience and expertise in digital marketing. Digital Betting is engaged in all operational activities, marketing promotion, as well as global support for the entire platform in Russia [9] .
In 2016, Digital Betting received a bookmaker license and the ability to accept bets online in Russia, and therefore the bookmaker has no mirrors and works only in the bwin.ru domain zone [9] .
Players and experts of the Russian betting market positively assessed the arrival of a major global player on the Russian market. Representatives of Russian bookmakers noted that the appearance of the first legal world-famous bookmaker will increase competition, and with it the quality of services provided [10] .
Legal Issues
Legal issues in the regulation of gambling is a complex combination of laws and rules that are unique to each market. For several years, the United Kingdom and Italy have been regulating their online gaming markets for the benefit of all stakeholders. So, Italy has expanded its online licenses, making poker tournaments legal, and France , Spain and Denmark have announced their intention to allow private game operators to access their markets under strict conditions and under strict control. Many countries still pursue a policy of maintaining a state monopoly on online games or completely ban them.
Sponsorship
bwin is a partner of leading European clubs and sports federations.
Among the teams that have entered into agreements with the bwin brand are leading European football clubs, including Borussia Dortmund , Atlético Madrid , Sevilla , Valencia and others. From 2007 to 2013, bwin was also the title sponsor of FC Real Madrid [11] [12] . In October 2010, bwin announced the sponsorship of three upcoming Portuguese Football League Cups, called the “bwin Cup” [13] . And the Italian football Serie B was renamed “Serie bwin” after signing a sponsorship deal in July 2010 two years in advance [14] . bwin also gave its name to the first Portuguese football league (bwinLIGA) [15] , was a sponsor of the Italian football club Milan [16] , as well as a partner for clubs such as Juventus [17] , Inter Milan [18] , Werder Bremen [19] et al. In addition, bwin has partnered with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and has been sponsoring European and World Championships since 2006. In the field of motorsport, the company is one of the main sponsors of the MotoGP series. In 2010, bwin became the title sponsor of the races in Jerez and Estoril , as well as the official partner of the grand prix in Brno , Misano and Mugello [20] . Bwin also organizes numerous poker offline and online tournaments
In 2017, bwin in Russia became a partner of the VTB United League [21] and the All-Russian Volleyball Federation . The bwin CEO in Russia Dmitry Sergeyev noted that as a result of the cooperation, the share of players who stably bet on basketball and volleyball has increased [22] .
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Rewards
At the annual EGR online gambling award hosted by eGaming Review magazine , bwin won the Best Operator of the Year 2009 Award [23] .
Incidents
In 2006, the German football club Werder Bremen signed a sponsorship contract with bwin until 2009, according to which it was supposed to receive $ 7.5 thousand per year. In the same year, bwin was revoked by the Saxony government in defense of the state-controlled sports sweepstakes Oddset . So bwin was outlawed, and some amateur league players protested against the decision of the authorities by taking part in nude photo shoots. For each entry to the field wearing a bwin logo T-shirt, the Werder Bremen should have been fined $ 60,000, which resulted in the decision to put the slogan “We win” in the same style on the t-shirts [24] [25] [26] .
In 2012, long before bwin entered the Russian market, information appeared about freezing the accounts of dozens of Russians under the pretext that they did not have identity documents. According to one of the players, bwin representatives expressed a desire to see the receipt for utility bills, however, the payer was not the player himself, but the homeowner, so the payment was refused and the account was blocked. This, according to experts, is used in many bookmakers to protect customer funds from illegal operations [27] . Over the next few months, the Russian citizen paid all the bills on his own and again submitted the documents to bwin, after which the company immediately paid the win [28] .
Notes
- ↑ The largest international bookmaker bwin will launch the application in Russia. Together with Rambler & Co . Meduza (June 7, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Anna Afanasyeva. Foreign bookmakers will play in Russia . Kommersant (June 7, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Alexey Ageev. Bwin in Russia. Success story of a world famous brand . Championship.com (June 23, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Bwin buys Gioco Digitale for push on new Italy market Archived on September 7, 2011. , egrmagazine.com, September 14, 2009, accessed December 3, 2009.
- ↑ Bwin.com History aka Betandwin Archived on May 6, 2016. accessed April 7, 2010.
- ↑ Gambling firms Partygaming and Bwin reveal merger plan , BBC News (July 29, 2010). Date of treatment July 29, 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 GVC completed the acquisition of a bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral for $ 5.55 billion . Championship.com (April 2, 2018). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Football with a bookmaker
- ↑ 1 2 Alexey Ageev. "Be the first in mobile." The world famous bwin brand came to Russia . Championship.com (June 8, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Observant: the appearance of bwin.ru will slightly cheer up the market in terms of competition . Championship.com (June 8, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Día Mundial de Apostar (Spanish) . AS México (26 de mayo de 2018). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ FC Bayern schließt neuen Millionen-Deal (German) . tz (6. März 2015). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Bwin seal sponsorship of Portuguese Liga Cup Archived on May 14, 2016. , accessed November 8, 2010.
- ↑ Mark Meadows. Soccer-Italy's Serie B rebranded Serie bwin . Reuters (July 7, 2010). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Alexis Pereira. Les 10 plus gros transferts en 2007 (French) . Maxifoot (1 juin 2008). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Stefano Federici. Fly Emirates Group Planning Milan Partnership . Goal . Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Keith Weir. Bwin adds Italy's Juventus to soccer sponsorship ranks . Reuters (July 12, 2013). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ George Dudley. Inter Milan take a punt on Bwin sponsorship . SportsPro (August 30, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Inter Milan take a punt on Bwin sponsorship (German) . Handelsblatt (21. August 2008). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Inter Milan take a punt on Bwin sponsorship (indon.) . Bola.net (December 19, 2011). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Bwin Russia is a partner of VTB United League in the 2017/18 season . Championship.com (November 7, 2017). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Sergeev: the bwin share with Olga Buzova increased the number of registrations by 400% . Championship.com (April 12, 2018). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Bwin crowned EGR Operator of the Year 2009 Archived July 10, 2011. , egrmagazine.com, December 1, 2009, accessed December 3, 2009.
- ↑ Frank Lehmkuhl. Bwin muss von der Brust (German) . Focus (13. September 2006). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Ruslan Grudtsinov. Bookmakers sponsors of football Europe . Championship.com (September 18, 2012). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Archived copy . Date of treatment March 25, 2015. Archived September 22, 2009. Werder Bremen to Appeal Betting Firm Sponsor Ban in Court
- ↑ Ilya Yushkov, Victoria Minina. The Russians accused BWIN of freezing accounts . Izvestia (July 19, 2012). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
- ↑ Anastasia Petrova, Victoria Minina. BWIN returned money to Russian players from frozen accounts . Izvestia (August 24, 2012). Date of appeal May 26, 2018.
Links
- Who Stole the FIFA Cup 2018?
- Bwin in Russia. World famous brand success story
- The Prospects of Global Bookmakers in Russia and Growth Disease
- Bwin and VTB League sign partnership agreement
- Bwin Russia is an official partner of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation
- BWIN Russia received the status of official partner of the Sochi Hockey Open 2017 tournament