Sky Bet eyes Italy and Germany after BSkyB deals
Managing director Richard Flint says BSkyB deal for Sky Italia could speed up plans for Italian market entry
Sky Betting and Gaming is eyeing launches in the Italian and German online gambling markets following parent company BSkyB’s £4.9bn acquisition of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland.
Speaking to eGaming Review on Friday, Sky Bet managing director Richard Flint said that although no launch date had been set, the new deal would “certainly help” speed up a launch in these markets.
Sky Bet first applied for an Italian licence two years ago but, as Flint previously told eGR, the fact BSkyB and Sky Italia were separate companies presented a number of challenges.
“The fact that we are now one entity will certainly help our Italian launch and will help move things along in Germany as well,” Flint said.
“We’ve already got an Italian licence and we haven’t launched yet because this activity has been rumbling along in the background, but this now clears things up,” he said.
BSkyB announced its plans to create a pan-European broadcasting company last week after revealing it had agreed to pay £4.9bn for 21st Century Fox’s 100% interest in Sky Italia and 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland.
“You still have to make the timings are right, but being part of one group makes things easier and once the transaction has been finalised we will need to engage with our colleagues in Italy,” Flint said.
“We haven’t set a date for launch yet but because these discussions have been going on in the background and betting isn’t really high up on the list of things to talk about,” he added.
The news follows another positive 12 months for Sky Bet after recording a 19% year-on-year rise in full-year revenues after a strong performance from its mobile business.
Revenues for the 12 months ended 30 June 2014 increased to £183m after its number of mobile users soared by 29% year-on-year which Flint said had resulted in growth across Sky Bet, Vegas, Poker and Bingo.
“All four verticals have shown growth in the last half of the year which was largely due to our continued success in mobile both from a product and marketing perspective,” he said.
Flint also highlighted the operator’s Football League sponsorship as being a significant focus for its plans over the next months with a new media campaign set to launch soon.
“It’s a big focus for this autumn and we will reveal the campaign very soon,” he said. “We are very excited as we built a good platform last year and we are really looking forward to making the most of it again this year.
“Although I can’t release the exact figures, we are investing quite a lot of money and resources into this campaign,” Flint added.
Sky Bet became the title sponsor of all three Football League divisions just before the start of the 2013-14 season as part of a five-year deal.