Industry | Gambling |
---|---|
Founded | 1998 |
Headquarters | Gibraltar |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Online casino |
Parent | 888 Holdings |
Website | 888casino.com |
888casino, formerly Casino-on-Net, is an online casino brand owned by 888 Holdings. It was founded in 1997, and is headquartered in Gibraltar. It is one of the Internet's oldest casinos, [1] and in 2013 it became the first exclusively online casino to be licensed in the United States. [2]
Casino-on-Net was established by brothers Aaron and Avi Shaked along with partners Ron and Shay Ben-Yitzhaq, also two brothers, in 1997. Aaron Shaked claims to have come up with the idea of the online casino while attending a dentistry conference in Monte Carlo. [3] [4] In 1994, the Free Trade & Processing Zone Act was passed in Antigua and Barbuda, opening the way for the development of legal online casinos. [5] Casino-on-Net was re-branded as 888casino in 2010 to unify the look and feel with other 888 brands. [6] By 2015 the site was licensed and operating in Gibraltar, New Jersey, Denmark, Spain and a number of other countries and territories. [7] [8]
In 2015, Gaming Intelligence magazine described 888casino as "the only truly pan-European casino." [9]
In 2017, 888casino signed a deal to include slot games from Berlin-based Merkur Interactive Services GmbH, part of the Gauselmann Group. [10]
888casino has been awarded eCOGRA's Safe and Fair assurance seal. [11]
In 2021, 888casino stopped offering sports betting in New Jersey as it prepares to launch its regulated Sports Illustrated-branded sportsbook in the state.[ citation needed ]
On 9 September 2021, 888casino acquired William Hill International's European business from US owners Caesars Entertainment for a purchase price of £2.2 billion. [12] [13]
888casino has been involved in sponsorship of sporting events, teams and athletes, including as title sponsor of the 2013 World Seniors Championship in snooker, the New York Jets of the NFL, Dundalk FC, and title sponsor of the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix. [14]
As a result of an act of the United States Congress in October 2006, [15] online gaming firms were forced to their presence in the US market, resulting in a mass exit from the US market for these sites.
In March 2013, the Nevada Gaming Commission granted 888casino a license as an Interactive Gaming Service Provider, making it the first company providing exclusively online gambling to be licensed by any US jurisdiction. [2]
In January 2011, the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill sponsored by Raymond Lesniak to allow online gambling by New Jersey residents over the age of 21. [16] In August 2013, 888casino signed an agreement with Caesars Entertainment Corporation [17] through the group's All American Poker Network (AAPN) joint venture with Avenue Capital, enabling 888casino to offer own-branded products in New Jersey. [18] 888casino publishes an independently audited monthly Casino Payout Percentage and includes the Payout Percentage of each game, as well as the total average Payout Percentage of 888casino. [19] 888casino's payout rate is 95.1%. [1]
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sports.
A slot machine, fruit machine, poker machine or pokies is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as one-armed bandits, alluding to the large mechanical levers affixed to the sides of early mechanical machines, and to the games' ability to empty players' pockets and wallets as thieves would.
William Hill is a British gambling company founded in 1934. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London. The company was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in April 2021. In July 2022, William Hill was subsequently acquired by 888 Holdings for £2.2 billion.
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment was an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Formerly the world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it was best known for its online poker room PartyPoker, World Poker Tour and its sports betting brand Bwin.
partypoker is an online poker card room. Launched in 2001 by PartyGaming, the site has had up to 80,000 players logged-in and was the largest online card room until 2006. In 2011 PartyGaming merged with bwin to form Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. As of 2017, it remains among the largest online poker card rooms. The site was endorsed by Mike Sexton, the former host of the World Poker Tour television show. The domain partypoker.com attracted at least 3.6 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study. In 2016, after a protracted bidding process between 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment accepted GVC Holdings' bid for £1.1 billion. Today, the site is run by GVC Holdings and is available in 14 different languages. In addition to partypoker.com, partypoker also offers dedicated networks for French and Italian based players via partypoker.fr and partypoker.it, respectively. GVC Holdings also acquired Partycasino during the 2011 merger of Party Gaming.
888 Holdings plc, formerly Virtual Holdings Limited, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It owns brands such as 888casino, 888poker, 888sport, Mr Green, and William Hill. Business operations are led from its headquarters in Gibraltar, alongside satellite offices in Bucharest, Ceuta, Leeds, London, Malta, Sofia, and Tel Aviv. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, formerly known as Betandwin, is an Austrian online betting brand acquired by Entain PLC. The group operated under international and regional licences in countries like Gibraltar, the Amerindian reserve of Kahnawake (Canada), and Belize; and Germany, Italy, Mexico, Croatia, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom in Europe. Bwin offered sports betting, poker, casino games, and soft and skill games, with most revenue coming from poker and sports betting. bwin had over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Competence centres were located in Vienna, Stockholm, and Gibraltar.
Belle Rock Entertainment is a global gaming and entertainment group, licensed in Gibraltar, operating seven online casinos, online poker rooms and an online sportsbook. Owned by Chairman Tim Johnson, the Carmen Group was formed in 2002 out of the Demmy Group of companies. Prior to 2004 the company was known as Carmen Media Group Limited.
32Red is a public British online casino company located in Gibraltar. It was acquired by the Kindred Groupin July 2017 for £176 million.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
Bet365 is a British gambling company founded in 2000. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are conducted from its headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, alongside a satellite office in Malta. It was founded by Denise Coates, who remains the majority shareholder and joint-chief executive, alongside her brother John Coates.
Kindred Group is an online gambling operator which consists of nine brands, among them Unibet, Maria Casino and 32Red. The Group offer products such as online casino, online poker, online bingo, and sports betting. The company is registered in Malta, but also has major hub offices in Gibraltar, London, Stockholm and the US in addition to smaller satellite offices across Europe and Australia. Kindred Group is a publicly listed company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (Nasdaq). In 2017, the company's revenue was GBP 751.4 million.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
Gambling in New Jersey includes casino gambling in Atlantic City, the New Jersey Lottery, horse racing, off-track betting, charity gambling, amusement games, and social gambling. New Jersey's gambling laws are among the least restrictive in the United States. In 2013, the state began to allow in-state online gambling. Five years later, the state won a lawsuit that dismantled Nevada's monopoly on legal sports betting.
888poker, formerly Pacific Poker, is an international online poker brand owned by 888 Holdings. It was founded in 2002, and is headquartered in Gibraltar.
eCOGRA is a London-based testing agency and standards organisation in the realm of online gambling. The company was established in 2003 in the United Kingdom at the behest of the online gaming industry as the first industry self-regulation system. eCOGRA is a testing laboratory, inspection body, and certification body, specializing in the certification of online gaming software and the audit of Information Security Management Systems.
Betway is an online gambling company. Founded in 2006, it offers betting and gambling products including sportsbook and online casino. Betway has offices in London, Malta, Guernsey, and Cape Town, South Africa.
Wink Bingo is an online bingo website launched in 2008. It is part of Broadway Gaming Ireland DF Limited that is based in Ireland and licensed in Great Britain.
888sport is an international sports betting brand owned by 888 Holdings. It was founded in 2008, and is headquartered in Gibraltar. The company provides online sports betting, predominantly in European markets.
Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker and Sportingbet.