Exclusive: Ongame prepares to launch Danish poker room
Betfair, Scandic Bookmakers and Bet24 are first sites named on the native poker room ahead of the Danish market opening in January.
Ongame has announced the names of the first two operators to join its new Danish poker room ahead of the country’s egaming market opening on 1 January next year.
Bet24 and Scandic Bookmakers already have sites on Ongame’s dot.com network, and are now moving to target their home market. The poker network will set up a dedicated room for Danish players that is compliant with the Danish Gambling Authority’s technical specifications, but will share the liquidity of the global network.
Peter Weinreich, Betfair’s country manager for Denmark, confirmed that the betting exchange’s Danish poker site will also join the room.
Martin Lerby, head of marketing and operations at Ongame, told eGaming Review that Bet24 and Scandic Bookmakers will be joined by up to five further licensees “in the next week or so.”
Scandic was recently acquired by Sportingbet, and the parent company launched a new poker room on Ongame’s dot.com network in June. At the time of writing, eGaming Review has been unable to contact Sportingbet to establish whether any of its other brands will be added to Ongame’s dot.dk network.
Meanwhile Bet24 recently signed World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jesper Hougaard as its newest sponsored pro in preparation for the Danish market opening.
Poker is one of the most popular egamign verticals in Denmark, with 33.5% of the total gambling market attributed to online play, over three times the European average of 11%. The opening of the market is expected to increase this market share to 43% in 2012, with revenues expected to grow to 87m, an increase of 60%, according to H2 Gambling Capital.
Commenting on the deal, Scandic Bookmakers CEO Claus Gernal Rasmussen, said: “First-mover advantage is important for an operator like us. Denmark is a very important market with fierce competition. Ongame enables us to be present with a premium poker experience in Denmark from day one.”
In its pre-close trading update earlier this week bwin.party revealed that the sale of Ongame was unlikely to be completed by the end of the year as originally planned.