Eurosport betting company SPS to launch Italy site
SPS Betting, the new betting arm of the Eurosport TV network, is to launch an Italy-facing website this month as a trial run ahead of launching in the company's home market of France when regulation comes into effect there next year.
SPS BETTING, the new betting arm of the Eurosport TV network, is to launch an Italy-facing website this month.
Chief executive Olivier Ou Ramdane (pictured) told EGRmagazine.com that the site, Eurosportbet.it, will be higher profile than the company’s Eurosportsbet.co.uk site for the British market, and will be used to practice operating in a regulated market ahead of the regulation of SPS’ home market of France next year.
Ou Ramdane said: “It will be a way of seeing how we evolve in a regulated environment, even if it is more restrictive than the UK. We will rely on the Eurosport brand and assets such as YahooEurosport.it, which is the second sports site in Italy.”
SPS betting was launched in June, when Eurosport became one of the few media companies to have created an online betting solution in-house. The business was the creation of the investment fund Serendipity in 2007, which belongs to two household names of French business: Groupe Bouygues, the giant building, construction, telecoms and broadcasting conglomerate; and Artemis, the holding company for Groupe Pinault, owner of retail brands such as La Redoute and fashion labels including Gucci, Stella McCartney and Yves Saint-Laurent.
SPS was one of two new media businesses to join the Power 50 ranking of leading operators this year
Speaking in an interview to be published in the forthcoming edition of eGaming Review, Ou Ramdane also said that being a French group will give it an advantage over foreign rivals once the egaming regulation in France comes into effect.
“It’s about a media experience as a whole but for sure, the nationality of a company defines which market will be its stronghold. But this is why Bwin has partnered with [French sports newspaper] L’Equipe, because it can see that it will be easier to acquire market share with a local partner. The fact that all operators’ ‘domestic’ markets are their strongest markets is even truer because of the regulation: countries are licensing individually.”
The full interview will appear in the October issue of eGaming Review. Click here to subscribe, or click here for a free trial subscription.
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