Swedish gaming operator Betsson AB saw Q3 revenues rise 21% over the same period last year to SEK 465.7m (€51.27m). Net income was SEK 138.4m (€15.235m). Through the first nine months of 2011, Betsson revenue is up 9.2% to SEK 1.22b (€132.1m). Betsson CEO Magnus Silfverberg claimed his company’s “B2C segment is displaying the highest level of underlying activity which we have ever seen and the B2B segment has launched three new collaborations.”
After playing coy all last month, we finally have a better understanding about what the Samvo Group was up to with their plans to expand on the ‘betting café’ retail concept. The company, which alternates between operating an online sports betting site (Samvo.com) and issuing cease and desist orders to gamblin’, drinkin’ and carryin’ on websites, held the grand opening of its first two betting cafés in Hammersmith and Camden (Central London) midway through October. This has since been followed by a new shop; a joint project with German operator Bet90 in Harrow (Greater London), which opened this past weekend.
Michael Friedrich, founder of the Malta LGA-licensed Bet90, claims to have pioneered the “live bet 0:0” school of betting, in which punters can wager on who will score more goals from the point they place their bet. Regardless of the current score in the match, or how far along that match may be, the score sheet essentially resets when you place your bet, meaning only goals scored after that point are factored into determining winners from losers. The Harrow shop — or ‘temple of football’ in Bet90 parlance — features six big screen TVs and wagers are accepted on up to 150 international footie matches per day. The staff even offered first-day punters a £5 free-play. But considering Samvo was aiming its retail operations at a “younger, more affluent customer,” shouldn’t these well-heeled whippersnappers have been expected to afford their own punts? Just sayin’.
