16: Betway (2016)

Betway continues to cause problems for the UK status quo with an aggressive marketing strategy which, EGR has been informed by the company, helped revenues increase by a healthy double-digit percentage during the past 12 months.

The firm recently extended its sponsorship deal with West Ham United until 2020, highlighting the benefits the operator must be extracting from the tie-up. The firm is also the headline sponsor of the Premier League Darts, which is not only popular in the UK but also in the soon-to-be regulated Netherlands.

And Betway has been taking a more international view of late with a number of football-related sponsorship deals signed in Germany and Belgium. Furthermore, the operator is present in the African countries of Uganda, Kenya and Ghana, having launched in the latter market just weeks ago.

Betway has also targeted esports and has led from the front by positioning the gaming genre as a vertical in its own right and investing what it described as a “high six-fi gure” sum to sponsor the Ninjas in Pyjamas eSports team. The outlay would suggest Betway has seen some early traffi c for eSports, although at this moment in time it would appear a long-term investment.