Unibet signs Belgian deal with Rank
Partnership covers poker and casino " Swedish-listed operator already has land-based and online sports betting licences.
Unibet has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Rank Group as it looks to boost its market-leading position in Belgium, the Stockholm-listed operator has announced today.
The operator was awarded land-based and online sports betting licences in the jurisdiction last month after submitting its application in February, launching its dot.be site on 11 July. However the new deal with Rank will allow Unibet to gain the necessary land-based connection required for poker and casino accreditation.
Chief executive Henrik Tjärnström (pictured, centre) revealed in today’s second-quarter interim report that Unibet holds a market-leading position in Belgium with a double-digit market share, helped in part by its acquisition of Mr Bookmaker 2005.
Today’s announcement is part of the operator’s continued progress towards increasing the proportion of its revenues from regulated markets, with the acquisitions of Bet24 and Betchoice contributing to a 32% year-on-year gross winnings revenue increase to £45.3m in Q2 2012.
Second-quarter profits were down 11.1% year-on-year to £6.4m, due in part to an increased marketing effort following the migration of Bet24 and Betchoice players onto the Unibet platform in relevant markets during the quarter.
According to Tjärnström more than 50% of Bet24 players are from Denmark, helping Unibet consolidate its second spot in the dot.dk market since it opened in January, and the CEO noted that the company is “actively choosing to invest to gain market share and build our position for long term”.
“Our plan from the beginning was to have a one-brand strategy, where we don’t compete for the same customer segment with several brands,” he added.
With regards to Australia, where Unibet is already beginning to see benefit from the Betchoice acquisition, Tjärnström made reference to the reforms being considered to the country’s Interactive Gaming Act, saying: “It is very likely that full, live betting and poker tournaments will be available from late 2012 or early 2013. This is in addition to what we planned for in Australia, and should mean we compete very well there.”
Elsewhere, Unibet has seen a slight decline in gross winnings revenue from its central, eastern and southern Europe activities, with this largely attributed to the impact of Spanish regulation, which has seen Unibet’s players migrated to PAF.
The operator’s B2B sportsbook arm Kambi Sports Solutions has signed deals with Spanish land-based operators Egasa and Grupo Acrismatic, but these are among a number of local operators not anticipated to go live in the dot.es market until the second half of 2012. Kambi also agreed two pool betting deals during the quarter, signing up with TonyBet and Fun88.