National UK newspaper The Guardian has ended its sports betting partnership with FSB Technology. The newspaper announced that it would no longer run its GoWager betting services in its website.
The Guardian‘s partnership with FSB Technology launched GoWager in February 2014, offering customers a full sportsbook with live betting on a range of sports including football, horseracing, tennis, and cricket on selected betting markets.
The newspaper faced criticism and opposition from its readers for promoting gambling products and the publication was forced to review its sports betting partnership. FSB-powered GoWager was switched to a standalone site unaffiliated to The Guardian.
The UK newspaper had taken a strong stance against UK gambling, in particular the issue of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT’s) but its commercial department had defended its online sports betting product as an individual’s right to choose and that it was only marketed on the sports pages of the newspaper and website.
“Guardian News & Media is always seeking new ways to innovate commercially, but we are also mindful of the views of our readers, some of which were outlined in a readers’ editor’s column about GoWager last year,” a spokesperson told eGaming Review. “This decision was unrelated to the services provided by FSB Technology and the GoWager website will continue without Guardian involvement,” the spokesperson added.
Dave McDowell, CEO and co-founder of FSB Technology, added, “We really enjoyed working with the Guardian and remain on very good terms. The relationship gave us a fantastic platform to showcase our position as a leading technology supplier.
“We broke new ground in the distribution of a sports betting service by delivering contextual betting opportunities embedded within a media partner’s website. At FSB we want to continue being innovative when it comes to the marketing of those services and maintain our position as the most flexible sports betting solution in the market today.”
