October 09, 2007

Online Casino to Open Sportsbook

One of the world’s largest online gaming companies, 888.com, has announced plans to offer sportsbetting as soon as later this year.

Gigi Levy, Chief Executive Officer for the Gibraltar-licensed firm, was speaking at the recent European iGaming (EiG) conference in Barcelona and hinted that sports betting could be launched in the first market in a few months and implied that the deal with the provider would be for more than just one year.

'The UK is our biggest market but we also have Seville,' said Levy. 'It's highly likely that there will be another deal by the end of the year. It'll be something that doesn't cost much but hopefully makes a lot of money.”

Having seen takeover talks with gambling group Ladbrokes come to nothing due to worries about retrospective prosecution by US authorities following the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) last year, 888.com has previously stated that it is looking to be a predator rather than prey for larger rivals.

Industry analysts have previously speculated that 888.com could purchase Rank Group’s Blue Square to offer bets on football (soccer) matches, horse racing and other sports for the first time.