Swedish gambling company Betsson announced on Wednesday that it is consolidating its brands in the United Kingdom. Despite online gambling surging this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Betsson has decided to cull eight of its nine UK brands, focusing now on just one: Rizk.
The company believes the move will improve efficiency, which makes sense, as it can now devote its UK efforts to one brand, rather than spreading resources across nine. It will then take resources it will not need and move them to other business in order to grow other markets.
The eight brands – Betsafe, Betsson, Casino Euro, Guts, Kaboo, Live Roulette, Jackpot247, and Racebets – will stay alive in other markets.
The company notes that it only draws about 3 percent of its revenue from the UK, so it is not fretting about getting rid of eight UK brands.
Bettson adds, “The UK regulatory framework has undergone significant changes in the past few years, requiring extensive investments both in technology, regulatory compliance as well as marketing, which is not sustainable with the Group’s current UK setup.”
The company has four UK gaming licenses, of which three will be returned to the UK Gambling Commission.
As for the customers with money on the eight sites, that’s it. The sites have been closed and will no longer accept any deposits or bets. Everyone will receive their funds and interestingly, “all outstanding bets will be paid out as winning bets.”
Some of the brands that have been jettisoned from the UK market were acquired when Betsson bought NetPlay in 2017. The purchase never really bore the fruit that Betsson expected and some NetPlay operations were moved to Malta the following year. That same year, Betsson began shrinking its marketing spending in the UK.
Several of the Betsson brands have online poker rooms, including Betsson, Guts, NordicBet, and Betsafe. Many used to be on MPN, the Microgaming Poker Network, but most, if not all, are now on Playtech’s iPoker Network.
