Unibet Gets Into B2B Sector

2/17/10 - B2B (Business to Business) activity appears to be the area of choice into which major online gambling groups are expanding, with Unibet the latest to announce its involvement.  The company has kicked off its new service with a deal with Ålands Penningautomatförening (Paf), licensed by the Åland Provincial Government, for the provision of a full sports betting solution.
 
Unibet joins a growing number of Internet gambling groups offering more than just gambling to their own punters. Dragonfish, the 888.com b2b subsidiary is making significant contributions to its parent's business performance with a series of important deals, whilst Bwin has been using the Ongame Network for the same purpose.
 
Paddy Power operates through Airton Risk, with the French monopoly the PMU as an impressive client, and Betsson has recently made much of its push into the sector through Betsson Business Solutions. Industry giant Party Gaming also ventured outside its normal area of activity recently with its b2b deal to provide online poker and casino facilities to the Danish state gambling monopoly Danske Spil. 
 
Unibet's 3 year agreement will see it provide Paf with a fully serviced sports betting solution which will also be offered to external customers.
The scope of the services includes odds compiling and risk management on an in-house developed proprietary system for fixed odds betting. Paf will also become a customer in the fast growing sports betting pool products SuperToto and SuperScore offered by Unibet.
 
Gross Gaming Revenue for the global sports betting market is estimated by independent analysts to be US$ 40.9 billion for 2009 and the forecast for 2012 is that the global sports betting market will grow to US$ 43.4 billion, a statement from Unibet revealed this week. The company says it has initiated investigations on how to structure the Unibet b2b business in order to protect the integrity of the customers and maximise the shareholder value to the Unibet shareholders.
 
“With our extensive Live Betting offer with over 2 000 live events per month and our in-house risk management we have a very strong offer," said Unibet chief executive Petter Nylander, describing the sector as "...this large opportunity market."
 
Anders Ingves, CEO of Paf, commented: “Paf will continue to grow internationally and this investment strengthens our offering long term. This Agreement will be important for Paf and our customers. Through our partnership with Unibet, we gain access to the best betting platform in the business”.
 
Paf also uses Net Entertainment's CasinoModule online gambling systrem, provided under licence last year.