SPANISH SPORTSBETTING ACTION

26 October 2007

Bwin and Betbull target liberated Spanish market


Joining a growing number of major European sportsbetting operators who have the newly liberated Spanish betting market firmly in their sights, Austrian listed online gambling firms Bwin and Betbull have announced a joint venture in the Madrid region of Spain to take advantage of the regulation of betting shops scheduled for next year.

The deal will mark Bwin’s first venture into land-based bookmaking, although the company already has a solid profile in the country from its shirt sponsorship deal with Real Madrid - the result of a four-year Euro 35 million deal with the football club.

In a statement, Betbull said no further financial details would be released until the application process was complete, but the partnership hopes to launch its first shops in the first quarter of 2008.

Simon Bold, director at Betbull, said: “The forthcoming year will see the fruition of many months of planning and fine tuning of our betting products and systems for the Spanish market.”

The company would hope to expand further in Spain as and when other regions liberalise along the Madrid lines, he added.

UK high-street bookmaking giants Ladbrokes and William Hill have also announced plans to take advantage of the liberalisation in the Spanish regions. Each has announced joint ventures with Cirsa and Codere respectively.

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