Unibet agrees new Belgian deal; PMU revenue up thanks to sports; Biggest backgammon site closes doors for final time

unibet pmu play65Unibet has agreed a deal to become official betting partner of Belgian football outfit Standard Liege. SportsPro reports that Unibet’s logo will appear for a total of five minutes on pitchside advertising boards at all of the Jupiler Pro league club’s home games. It will also see in-stadium betting launched by the club in the stadium later this season and Dennis Mariën, Unibet’s country manager for Belgium, said: “Standard is a very particular case in the universe of Belgian football. The club possesses the biggest crowd of supporters in Belgium – and the most fantastic – which moreover is spread throughout the country. We are carving, then, a prominent place in the south of the country, where Unibet still has fine opportunities for growth. And that will also create for us additional visibility in Flanders!”

French operator PMU thanked strong sports betting and poker numbers for a modest increase in revenue during the third quarter of the year. Total revenue was up 1.6 percent to €1.87billion for the quarter with the first nine months of the year as a whole seeing an increase of 2.9 percent to €7.78bn. Users also flocked online to place bets with growth of 19.3 percent including an upturn of 5.8 percent in the tricky horse race betting sector. Sports betting online leapt 63.1 percent with the Tour de France and Olympics providing the company with a much needed boost. Online poker, meanwhile, saw a similar increased as activity rose by 39.8 percent.

Play65 has confirmed its days as the world’s biggest real-money backgammon site are over after operations ceased. The site had informed customers they had until September 12 to file a withdrawal request and it now seems that date marked a month before it would cease operations completely. Gaming Intelligence reports Play65’s regulators, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), don’t envisage any problems with the payment process.