Betsson

Betsson AB

Company type	Publicly traded (aktiebolag)
Traded as	Nasdaq Stockholm:  BETS B
Industry	Online gambling (holding company)
Founded	Sweden (December 3, 1963 (1963-12-03))
Founder	Bill Lindwall and Rolf Lundström
Headquarters	Ta' Xbiex, Malta
Key people	Pontus Lindwall (CEO since September 4, 2017)
Brands	betsson.com betsafe.com casinoeuro.com nordicbet.com krooncasino.com and more
Revenue	€777 million (2022)
Operating income	€131 million (2022)
Number of employees	1800
Subsidiaries	Betsson Malta Ltd
Website	betssonab.com betssongroup.com
Footnotes /references Annual Report 2022 [1]

Betsson AB is an online gambling company, producing casino, poker, bingo, sports betting, and scratch cards websites, through more than 20 online gaming brands, including Betsson, Betsafe, and NordicBet. ^[2] Betsson AB is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap List. ^{[1] [3] [4]}

Corporate history

Betsson AB can trace its roots back to 1963, and the foundation of AB Restaurang Rouletter by Bill Lindwall and Rolf Lundström, later renamed Cherryföretagen AB (Cherry), which provided slot machines to restaurants in Sweden. Cherry acquired a minority share of Net Entertainment in 1998, which was a company co-founded with Investment AB Kinnevik, tasked with developing online gaming solutions. The rest of the shares in Net Entertainment held by Kinnevik was acquired by Cherry in 2000, making Kinnevik the largest shareholder of Cherry in the process. In 2003, after the return of Pontus Lindwall (son of Bill Lindwall), as the CEO of Cherry, the company buys into Betsson (founded by Henrik Bergquist, Anders Holmgren and Fredrik Sidfalk), which had a gaming licence in England at that time, and later acquires a license in Malta. In 2006, Cherryföretagen changes its name to Betsson and the traditional gaming operation in the business sector of Cherry merges into a new group, Cherryföretagen, which later shortens the name back to Cherry and launches its own online sector based in Malta. ^[5] Ulrik Bengtsson stepped up as CEO of Betsson in March 2016, and took over after Pontus Lindwall, who has stayed on as chairman of the board. Ulrik Bengtsson stepped down as CEO on 09.04.2017 and was succeeded by Pontus Lindwall. As a consequence, Patrick Svensk was appointed chairman of the Board after Pontus. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

In May 2021, Betsson obtaining two licences from the Hellenic Gaming Commission for their brand. ^[10]

In May 2021, Betsson partnered with Norwegian Toppserien women's football club Avaldsnes IL. ^[11]

In 2021, it was announced that Betsson will be launching in Mexico through a partnership with local company Big Bola Casinos. ^[12] In 2021, Betsson agreed a deal to become a regional sponsor of the 2021 Copa América. ^[13] As part of the deal, Betsson will acquire branding rights.

In 2021, Betsson expanded its operations in Eastern Europe with the launch of new brand Europebet and a new office in Minsk, Belarus. ^[14] Under the brand Europobet – Betsson will offer casino, sportsbook and poker services. ^[15]

In 2021, Betsson announced CEO Pontus Lindwall is to step down. The company is on the lookout for a new CEO after Lindwall accomplished the task of getting the betting company back on track. Lindwall stays on as CEO until a new CEO is hired. ^[16]

In February 2022, Betsson debuts online betting in Buenos Aires city and province (Argentina) with local operator Casino Victoria. ^[17]

In July 2022, Pontus Lindwall reported that organic growth is a perfect strategy for Betsson. Between April and June, group's organic traffic from Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia increased the growth by 13%. ^[18] Total revenue from the region reached €45.7m in Q2 which increased by 86.2% compared to the previous year. ^[19]

Products

Betsson AB's subsidiaries owns and operates a number of websites via its subsidiaries in Malta, where is its operational headquarter. ^{[1] [20]}

In November 2017, Betsson signed a deal with Scout gaming to integrate its daily fantasy sports platform across all its brands, including BetSafe, its UK facing online bookmaker. The integration is expected to be completed by 2018. ^[21]

Mobile Apps

BetSafe released the free mobile app for App Store on May, 26 in 2016. Since then it has 25 updates.

Later in 2016, Betsafe has added Poker and Virtual Sports to their app. In new updates they have also added new games, recently played widget, personalized casino lobby and have included a navigation tab bar.

As for Android, Betsafe provides an app developed by BML Group ltd, compatible with wide range of Android devices including Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Huawei, Vivo, LG, Sony, and HTC. ^[22]

Business acquisitions

In 2011 the company acquired all of the shares in the Betsafe Group for SEK 292 M. The aim of the acquisition was to increase Betsson's market presence and enable continued growth. The acquisition grew Betsson's number of customers to approximately 419,000 — surpassing Unibet in the number of active players. That same year Betsson signed an agreement with a Chinese state-owned company regarding the development of joint-owned gaming operations. ^{[23] [24]}

In March 2017, Betsson completed its £26 million acquisition of NetPlay TV's assets, adding Jackpot247 , SuperCasino and Vernons to its European gaming multi-brand portfolio. ^[25]

In February 2020, Betsson acquired Gaming Innovation Group B2C assets. ^[26]

In August 2021, Betsson acquired Inkabet. Betsson subsidiary SW Nordic Limited brokered the $25 million deal. ^[27] As part of the deal Betsson agreed to a $4 million performance incentive if Inkabet outperform EBIT targets. ^[28]

In August 2021, Betsson acquired 28% of Canadian start-up Slapshot Media Inc, for a purchase price of $2.4 million. ^[29]

Awards

Betsson received the Best Customer Service Award at the prestigious 10th Annual eGaming Review (EGR) in London. Betsson is ahead of 800 participants. For the fourth consecutive year, the Bettson Group has been the customer service winner of the year. ^[30]

Betsson won three awards at the 2021 SBC Awards: Casino Operator of the Year, Racing Sportsbook of the Year and Social Responsible Sportsbook of the Year. ^[31]

Data breach

In January 2020 Jackpot247 sent emails to all of their customers advising them that they had suffered a data breach. ^[32]

References

1. "2022 Annual Report" (PDF). Betsson AB.
2. "About | Betsson Group". www.betssongroup.com. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
3. "Koncernstruktur - Betsson AB". Solid Info. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
4. "About Us". Betsson. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
5. http://cherry.se/en/cherrys-history/%7C Cherry. Retrieved 7 April 2017
6. "BETSSON AB - Grunddata" (in Swedish). Solid Info. Archived from the original on 2019-06-30. Retrieved 5 August 2014. Registrering och aktivering: Bildat 1963-12-02 BV, Namn registrerat 2006-06-13 BV
7. "History". Betsson. Archived from the original on 2014-09-14. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
8. Linnala, Tomas (18 March 2010). "Betsson - superaktien som stigit över 11 000 procent". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 5 August 2014.
9. "Tar hem spelet" (in Swedish). Affärsvärlden. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
10. "Betsson obtains Greek betting and gaming licences". iGaming Business. 24 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-24. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
11. "Avaldsnes IL secures its 'biggest sponsorship deal of all time' with Betsson". Insider Sport. 21 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-21. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
12. "Betsson to enter Mexico through Big Bola deal". iGaming Business. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
13. "Betsson scores regional sponsorship deal with Copa América 2021". iGaming Business. 2 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-02. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
14. "Betsson brings poker to Belarus through Europebet brand". iGaming Business. 14 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-14. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
15. "Betsson expands in Europe by launching Europebet in Belarus". Gambling Insider. 14 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
16. "The Board of Betsson begins process to find a replacement for longtime CEO and founder Pontus Lindwall". www.betssonab.com. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
17. "Betsson debuts online betting in Buenos Aires city and province with local operator Casino Victoria". Yogonet. Yogonet.
18. "LatAm now is a Betsson's largest market". iGaming Business. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
19. "Betssons Record Breaking Revenue in Q2". casinority.com. 24 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
20. "Om Betsson" (in Swedish). Betsson AB. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
21. "Betsson signs deal to integrate daily fantasy sports platform". BestBettingSites.uk. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
22. "Betsafe Casino Mobile App Review". JackMobileCasinos. 2019-01-26. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
23. "Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Betsson AB. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
24. "Betsson i ledande roll". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 22 May 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
25. "Betsson completes £26 million acquisition of NetPlay TV". SBC News. 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
26. "GiG strikes deal to offload B2C assets to Betsson". iGaming Business. February 14, 2020.
27. "Betsson set to grow LatAm presence with Inkabet acquisition". iGaming Business. 12 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-12. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
28. "Betsson Strengthens Its LatAm Presence with Inkabet Takeover in Peru". Gambling News. 12 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-12. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
29. "Betsson turns to Canada with Slapshot Media investment". iGaming Business. 13 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-09-10. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
30. Karpenko, Andy (14 March 2020). "Betsson reseña". revizorro.org (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2020-03-23.
31. "Betsson celebrate triple successes at SBC Awards 2021". Insider Sport. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
32. "Jackpot247 Suffers Data Breach". Casino Listings Online. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.

External links

• Official website