The Guardian ends online sportsbook venture
UK newspaper terminates GoWager partnership with FSB Technology following reader concerns over promoting a gambling service
The Guardian newspaper has ended its sportsbook partnership with FSB Technology after just one year, eGaming Review can reveal.
GoWager was launched in February 2014 and offered a limited number of sports betting markets solely promoted through the Guardian’s website.
However the publication was soon forced to review its involvement in response to ethical concerns raised by its readers, and the FSB-powered product was switched to a standalone site unaffiliated to the Guardian earlier this week.
The Guardian, which has taken strong stance against fixed-odds betting terminals, had faced calls of hypocrisy for promoting GoWager while a reader’s poll recently found more than half (52%) were against the newspaper offering gambling services.
A spokesperson for the newspaper’s owner the Guardian News & Media confirmed the end of its GoWager partnership.
“Guardian News & Media is always seeking new ways to innovate commercially, but we are also mindful of the views of our readers, some of which were outlined in a readers’ editor’s column about GoWager last year,” a spokesperson told eGR.
“This decision was unrelated to the services provided by FSB Technology and the GoWager website will continue without Guardian involvement,” the spokesperson added.
FSB Technology CEO and co-founder Dave McDowell said the its partnership with The Guardian had enabled the company to successfully demonstrate its platform.
“We broke new ground in the distribution of a sports betting service by delivering contextual betting opportunities embedded within a media partner’s website,” McDowell told eGR.
“At FSB we want to continue being innovative when it comes to the marketing of those services and maintain our position as the most flexible sports betting solution in the market today,” he added.
eGR understands FSB will be unable to operate the sportsbook in the longer-term and will be seeking a new partner for the brand.
GoWager was first launched last February and in July was boosted when FSB signed a deal with Sporting Solutions to incorporate the B2B provider’s range of in-play data services.