RaceBets plans sportsbook after gaining new Germany licence
Operator plots product expansion having become the first bookmaker to be awarded online horse race betting licence in Germany
Germany licensed operator RaceBets has revealed it is looking for a partner for a new sportsbook product as it looks to expand beyond its core horse racing product.
RaceBets, which is currently a horseracing exclusive bookmaker, told eGaming Review the new sportsbook product would likely be under a different brand.
The operator was one of the 20 firms named on last year’s provisional list of 20 sports betting licensees, but legal challenges have meant those licences are yet to be issued.
With the Germany-facing operator also expanding into other regulated markets by acquiring licences in Britain and Ireland, it will now look to extend its offer to a wider selection of sports.
“Our ambition is to enter sports betting, but we’ll be looking for a strong partner,” Patrick Byrne, RaceBets’ managing director, told eGR.
“When we find someone we can develop a strong sports betting product with, it will be as clean as possible from a legal viewpoint, due to being on the provisional top 20 list of approved sports betting licences,” he added.
Byrne said horse betting would remain the firm’s core market, describing it as the “cleanest and most legal form of betting available in Germany at the moment”.
He said while the sector remained niche in Germany it was growing fast – as evidenced by PMU’s entry into the market last month with the acquisition of a majority stake in the German Tote.
“It is still an interesting market. We work with German Racing to reinvest profits back into horse racing. There seems to be interest in growing the sector,” Byrne said.
He also said it was hard to predict what would happen with Germany’s regulatory situation, with an important ruling from the European Court of Justice expected later this year.
He warned further legal challenges could be expected from those who made the provisional list if Germany opts to remove the cap on the number of licences.
“Companies like us who are on the provisional list can turn around and say we entered the licensing process on the basis that only 20 would be issued, and we don’t want those without a licence in the market,” Byrne said.