Bwin.party initiates new grey market approach
"Value over volume" approach in various dot.com markets see company block new sign-ups in a number of territories (updated 22 April 2013)
Bwin.party has blocked new sign-ups from players in various markets as it implements CEO Norbert Teufelberger’s strategy of focusing on regulated and regulating territories and prioritising value over volume in the dot.com space.
The chief executive (pictured) first announced the new approach following the operator’s full-year results in March following the awarding of a Belgian egaming licence, and the announcement of its withdrawal from Argentina last year.
A spokesman for bwin.party explained to eGaming Review that the operator had implemented its strategy of focusing on “regulated and to-be-regulated markets” for what it also described as “commercial reasons”.
“We are therefore making adjustments in various dot.com markets – the value over volume strategy has begun and we are focusing on our loyal dot.com customer base,” he added, making reference to Teufelberger’s assertions following the full-year results that “We are simplifying our [dot.com] business, moving from ‘volume’ to ‘value’, which we believe will allow us to further increase our operational efficiency.”
In an interview at the time of the publication of the FY 2012 results, in which bwin.party recorded largely flat revenues, Teufelberger noted that the operator would be “reducing the number of markets we are putting a focus on”. “We are increasing the spend in those markets [on which we continue to focus]. This investment will go solely into regulated and to be regulated markets,” Teufelberger added.
This focus saw bwin.party become one of the first operators to be awarded a licence in Denmark, where it has established a partnership with former monopoly Danske Spil. It was also among the first wave of licensees in Spain last year, while it also holds dot.country licences in France and Italy.
In December 2012 it agreed a partnership with Groupe Partouche which culminated in the receipt of a Belgian egaming licence in March this year.
Meanwhile the operator remains active in its pursuit of accreditation in the United States – partnering with Boyd Gaming, MGM and United Auburn – and Teufelberger suggested last month that a regulated egaming market in New Jersey would be a two-horse race between bwin.party and Caesars if former US-facing operator PokerStars is forbidden from entering the Garden State.
The full list of countries affected, according to Online Poker Report, is as follows: Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the Ukraine