Superbet plots Central and Eastern European expansion in 2018

Romania-facing operator Superbet is planning to beef up its presence across Central and Eastern Europe over the next 12 months with launches in Serbia and Slovakia, EGR Intel has learned.

The company is expected to first launch in Serbia this year, while its expansion into Slovakia will occur in either late 2018 or early 2019 across both retail and online.

The roll-outs into Serbia and Slovakia come after Superbet recently expanded into the regulated Polish market, which saw it open dozens of betting shops before the end of 2017 ahead of an online launch.

However, speaking to EGR Intel, Superbet CEO Sacha Dragic said the operator in Serbia and Slovakia plans to instead launch online and offline simultaneously.

“The example of Poland showed us we made a mistake of going retail first because the situation in Central Europe today is quite different to when we started in Romania,” Dragic said.

“We have much younger players who are very much relying on their mobile apps, so we intend to start in Serbia and Slovakia with the retail and online at the same time,” he added.

Superbet’s continued expansion into Central and Eastern Europe comes just months after the operator hired a team of senior staffers from rival operator Fortuna, including its Poland CEO and online marketing director.

Last year, the firm the firm also had hired six former Ladbrokes traders to join the operator’s recently launched international and Central European trading team in Croatia.

Superbet is also currently busy building a new digital platform for its Gibraltar-based international online business which is being overseen by a raft of former senior William Hill, bet365 and Sky Bet staffers.