Betsson to launch B2C offering in Italy
Swedish operator received licence on 19 January.
Betsson looks set to become the next operator to go live in Italy after being awarded a licence in the EU member state.
The company made the announcement today in its fourth-quarter results statement, with CEO Magnus Silfverberg confirming in an analyst presentation that the Italian operation will be B2C not B2B.
Silfverberg added that Betsson will begin marketing in Italy in the first half of 2012, while marketing activity in Denmark will also be stepped up in H1.
“There has been strong activity [in Denmark] since new legislation came in, and we can expect a lot of marketing activities in the first half of year, although this will slow down later on as the market is not that big and a lot of operators have taken a licence,” he explained.
Betsson was among the first wave of licensees to receive approval in Denmark, going live when the market opened on 1 January.
As well as its B2C arm going live in the Scandinavian company, Betsson signed a B2B deal with Copenhagen-based media company Berlingske Media, which owns several Danish-language newspapers, and finalised a supply deal with Leander Games last month.
The operator will not, however, be applying for a licence in Belgium. PokerStars was named among the first licensees in the country earlier this week, but Silfverberg maintained that “Our view is their regulation is not in coherence with EU legislation, so we have no plans to apply for that kind of licence.”