In a collaboration with sports betting supplier SBTech, London based gaming operator The Gamesys Group this week launched a new UK facing online sportsbook, branded by Virgin Games. Virgin Bet is the first sportsbook to be provided by Gamesys, who also own the Jackpot Joy, Stars Spins and Virgin Games brands. SBTech already supply sports betting solutions to the likes of Netbet, Mansion and ComeOn!.
In their statement , Gamesys announced that they intend to use Virgin’s “unique personality-led brand” as well as a statistics driven betting product which, coupled with SBTech’s famously slick and user friendly service, is designed to provide a simple but engaging betting experience that will allow them to shoehorn their way into an already saturated market.
Last January, Gamesys announced that its Virgin Games B2C brand was the strongest performer in its portfolio and one of the main reasons behind a 24.4% rise in revenue for the year ending March 31 2018. Over that period, Gamesys’ revenue amounted to £287.2 million.
Gamesys’ Gibraltar marketing director Simon Mizzi noted;
“We’re excited to launch Virgin Bet into the world’s most competitive sportsbook market. We believe the Virgin brand has the ability to help change the industry for the better and we look forward to giving our customers the experience we feel they deserve.”
Competitive Tender Process
SBTEch won the right to host the new sportsbook after successfully winning the contract from a competitive tender process in which they proposed and developed a bespoke front-end interface for the offering that impressed the bosses at Gamesys.
SBTech CEO Richard Carter had this to say;
“ Gamesys has put its faith in us due to our proven track record of delivering world-class sportsbook and casino platform solutions. This is testament to our talented team, outstanding product portfolio and the exceptional results we are able to generate for our partners.”
About Gamesys and SBTech
Gamesys was established in 2001 by Noel Hayden, Robin Tombs and Andrew Dixon and has since grown to become a leading online gaming operator. They are headquartered in Piccadilly, Central London, as well as having 1,200 staff in offices in Gibraltar and Staffordshire. Their initial offering was Jackpot Joy and, along the way, the company has grown into a multiple award winning team of designers, developers and operators who are behind some of the leading gaming sites including Heart Bingo.
In 2013, they teamed up with the Virgin Group allowing them to add Virgin Games to their online offering. The company enjoys a customer base of 24 million players who enjoy their 258 games, made up primarily of bingo and slots and now, thanks to SBTech, sports betting.
Back in May, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled against Gamesys and their Monopoly Casino campaign which was deemed to have broken rules regarding targeting ads to children over the use of the board game’s cartoon character mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags.
As for SBTech, they are a global leader in providing sports betting solutions and employ over 1,100 employees across their eleven worldwide offices. They were established in 2007 and are headquartered in Douglas, Isle of Man. Today they offer the industry’s most powerful online sports betting and casino platform, serving licensees in more than 15 regulated territories. Since 2018, SBTech sportsbooks come with the impressive Chameleon 360 iGaming platform.
Virgin Bet is available to download now for Android users only with an iOS app to be released soon.
