EGR Awards Operator of the Year shortlist

BET365, BETCLICK, BETFAIR, Bwin, PartyGaming, William Hill and 888 have been shortlisted for the coveted Operator of the Year trophy at this year’s EGR Awards.

Bet365 was nominated not only because of its marketing leading position but also its customer base in more than 200 countries, and achieving revenue of 70% from outside its home market in the UK, with particularly strong customer bases in Europe, Asia and Canada.

Amounts wagered increased 91.2% while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) more than doubled. The business is also an active member of the remote gaming association, with John Coates its chairman.

Betclick, the market leader in France, also boasts a strong position in central and southern Europe, and is also making a strong push on eastern Europe and Scandinavia via parent company and new Power 50 entrant Mangas Gaming’s acquisition of Expekt and Bet-at-home and also launched in Benelux, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania this month.

Also vying for the award, which will be presented at a gala dinner on the first night of the EGR Live conference and exhibition in London next month, is Betfair, which came third in this year’s Power 50 leading operators.

The betting exchange was selected on the basis of its huge scale and dominance of the betting exchange market and with a database of 2.5 million users, 625,000 of them active in the last year. Betfair’s geographical diversity was also important, demonstrated both by its 17 different languages and its three-year plan to grow outside its home market of Britain, which included January’s US$50m purchase of the US cable TV channel and online wagering business TVG.

Also relevant was growth, with Betfair revenue up 27% at year end; and its push on mobile gaming via technology developed in-house and sponsorship of football teams Manchester United and FC Barcelona.

Bwin, which topped this year’s Power 50 leading operators for the second year running, was selected on the basis of 17% growth in gross gaming revenue over the last 12 months, leadership demonstrated by its founding roles in the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and European Sports Security Association (ESSA) detection and early-warning system against fraud and wide geographic spread across the EU, Latin America and via its two development offices in Asia.

Bwin was also recognised as the only company in the industry to have been awarded an e-money license from the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), for the Cactus prepaid card it plans to introduce in Germany in the coming months; for its longstanding partnership with Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addictions and for the launch of its P5 business-to-business and business-to-consumer online poker platform.

PartyGaming won a place on the back of a slew of deals including its acquisition of Cashcade in July and tie-ups with Cirsa, Spain’s market leading casino operator, UK TV broadcaster Five and direct marketing company DM; plus a surge of 630,000 new players last year. Earlier this year PartyGaming also became the only major operator to have settled with the US authorities, and was second only to Bwin in the 2009 Power 50 leading operators.

The William Hill Online joint venture with Playtech brought an additional 22 casinos and four poker rooms to the William Hill offering and saw significant new marketing and distribution channels for Hills outside the UK - the business currently offers products in 19 languages and receives transactions from 180 countries. The company also ramped up marketing, including deals with La Liga club Malaga CF and La Vuelta cycling tour of Spain, and finally moved its egaming and fixed odds products offshore to Gibraltar.

888 made it onto the list via achievements including the launch of Dragonfish, 888’s business-to-business arm, in March; a hedge against any dip in business to consumer which has already paid dividends in the form of a Dragonfish tie-up with Harrah’s, the US casino giant, as well as deals with Littlewoods gaming, the Foxy and Wink bingo brands and Tower Tornedos.

The business also launched poker in 11 new languages over the last year, launched casino in four new ones and saw an increase of 246,000 new casino and poker depositors, as well as signing a deal with the Racing Post, the UK racing newspaper, to provide it with a casino and poker; and introducing a live dealer application.

The winner of the award will be announced at the EGR Awards gala dinner, which takes place at London’s Old Billingsgate market on 30 November, the first night of EGR Live, eGaming Review's free-to-attend conference and exhibition at the same venue.

Operator of the Year

888

Bet365

Betclick

Betfair

Bwin

PartyGaming

William Hill



Socially Responsible Operator of the Year

888

Betsson

Camelot

Ladbrokes

PartyGaming

SkyBet



UK Sports Betting Operator of the Year

Betfair

Ladbrokes

Paddy Power

William Hill



European Sports Betting Operator of the Year

Betclick

Betsson

Bwin

Unibet

Sportingbet



Poker Operator of the Year

888

Gaming Media Group (Poker Channel Europe, Poker Heaven)

Ladbrokes

PartyPoker

PKR



Casino Operator of the Year

32Red

888

Betsson

Ladbrokes

PartyCasino

William Hill



Bingo Operator of the Year

Cashcade (Foxy Bingo)

Gamesys (Jackpot Joy)

Ladbrokes

Spacebar Media (Wink Bingo)

Tombola

William Hill



Affiliate Programme of the Year

888

Betfair
Bingo.com

Chipleader

Ladbrokes

Paddy Power

Unibet

Virgin



Innovation of the Year

Betsson – Betsson AB

eGaming2.0 - Buzzluck

Gamesys - Monopoly Snap

Global Betting Exchange - iBroker

PaddyPower – Last Man Standing

Tote Ireland – Tote Price Promise

Tombola – Bingo Roulette



Online Marketing Campaign of the Year

Ads Dot Com (Intercasino)

Betfair

Betinternet

Everest Poker

Paddy Power

PKR



Offline Marketing Campaign of the Year

888

Betclick

PKR

Betsson

Cashcade (Foxy Bingo)



Rising Star

Amuso

Betboo

Chilli Poker

Gaming Media Group (Poker Channel Europe, Poker Heaven)

Tower Torneos



Mobile Gaming Operator of the Year

Betfair

Gamesys (Jackpot Joy)

Ladbrokes

NetPlay TV

Probability

Rank Interactive

Jackpot Factory (All Slots Mobile Casino)



European Live Gaming Operator of the Year

CasinoTV

NetPlay TV

UBWinner

Unibet



Asian Live Gaming Operator of the Year

188Bet

Fun88

VCBetAsia



Financial Betting Operator of the Year

BetOnMarkets

Capital Spreads

Extrabet


Asian Operator of the Year

Fun88

SBOBet


Latin American Operator of the Year

Betboo

BetCRIS

Tower Torneos


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