Poll results: Betfred to be boosted by bwin platform

Betfred will have the armoury to take on the UK’s leading lights upon completion of its migration to GVC Holdings’ bwin platform, according to the results of this week’s eGaming Review poll.

On Monday Betfred revealed it would be ditching its current GTECH platform in favour of moving both its sportsbook and gaming businesses on to the GVC-owned technology.

Betfred’s CEO John Haddock said the decision was made following an “extensive review” of its online business, one which many observers feel has stagnated in recent years.

“We were impressed by GVC’s proprietary technology platform, together with its scalability and flexible approach to support the continued growth of our online business,” Haddock said.

And while catching up with rivals in the UK will be the primary goal, the chief exec also hinted at international expansion, noting the bwin platform was compliant in a large number of regulated territories.

And 56% of respondents to this week’s poll appeared to agree with Haddock’s assessment of the deal, saying that the new platform would enable Betfred to compete on a more equal footing with the likes of Ladbrokes, William Hill and Sky Bet.

However, the platform switch is unlikely to take place until later this year and the question will be whether or not GVC decides to migrate its Sportingbet brand across to bwin ahead of the Betfred migration.

GVC could well opt to proceed with the Betfred migration first, enabling its team to learn some valuable lessons ahead of its own Sportingbet switch.

As a result of that uncertainty, 44% of respondents believe Betfred’s migration could be a messy affair and result in it falling further behind its UK rivals.