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Sky Betting & Gaming

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Sky Betting & Gaming
Company typeLimited company
IndustryOnline gambling and gaming
HeadquartersLeeds
ProductsSports betting,online poker,online casino,online bingo,odds comparison service, fantasy football and football predictor game
OwnerFlutter Entertainment

Sky Betting & Gamingis aBritish-basedgamblingcompany, owned byFlutter Entertainment,with headquarters inLeeds,West Yorkshireand offices inSheffield&Solihull.Sky Betting & Gaming consists of five core brands: Sky Bet, Sky Vegas, Sky Casino, Sky Poker and Sky Bingo.

In 2015,Sky plcsold an 80 per cent stake in the company toCVC Capital Partnersfor £600 million,[1]with Sky retaining a 20% stake in the company and agreeing to a long-term licence of the Sky brand.[2]In 2018, CVC and Sky (then in the process of being acquired byComcast) agreed to sell Sky Betting & Gaming toThe Stars Groupfor £3.4 billion, which was then acquired by Flutter Entertainment in 2020.[3]Flutter continues to use the Sky name and logo, which are now owned by Comcast.

Sky Bet[edit]

Sky Bet logo used since September 2020.

Sky Betis thesports bettingdivision of Sky Betting & Gaming, with the majority of its operations run from Leeds.

History[edit]

Sky Bet's origins lie in BSkyB's acquisition of Sports Internet Group in July 2000[4]which included the small telephone andonline sports betting-based company Surrey Sports, alongside two other companies: Planet Football and Opta Index. Surrey Sports was rebranded in July 2002 to create Sky Bet. The company grew in December 2006 when established online betting companies Total Bet and UK Betting were consolidated into Sky Bet after BSkyB's purchase of365 Media Group.[5]

Sky Vegas[edit]

Sky Vegas logo used since September 2020.

Sky Vegasis the company's primaryonline casinodivision.

Sky Vegas is licensed and regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) (GCB).

Until 12 April 2011, Sky Vegas had a dedicated TV channel of the same name on Sky channel 864 (which was formerly called 'Sky Vegas Live'), when it was rebranded for Sky Bet.

History[edit]

'Sky Bet Vegas' was created in March 2003, initially with only 3 fixed odds casino-style games called 'Juicy Jackpot', 'Top Spin' and 'Super Keno'.[6]

Fines and regulatory sanctions[edit]

On 9 March 2022 the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) fined Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, £1.17m for breaching the Social Responsibility Code of Practice (SRCP 3.5.3(2) and SRCP 5.1.11) and a licensing condition according to section 82(1) of theGambling Act 2005.[7]The regulator carried out an investigation that found that on 2 November 2021, the operator sent out a promotional email for its Sky Vegas brand to 41,395 players who had self-excluded and 249,159 customers who had opted out of email marketing. The Commission notes that the licensee took immediate remedial reaction and that they had cooperated throughout the investigation.[8][9]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^"Sky completes sale of Sky Bet to CVC Capital Partners".Sky plc. 19 March 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 21 April 2018.Retrieved21 April2018– via Financial Times.
  2. ^"Sky sells majority stake in Sky Bet".BBC News. 4 December 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 4 December 2014.Retrieved5 December2014.
  3. ^Lee Mottershead (21 April 2018)."Sky Bet snapped up by Canadian betting giant Stars Group in £3.4bn mega deal".Racing Post.Archivedfrom the original on 22 April 2018.Retrieved21 April2018.
  4. ^"An introduction to Sky Bet"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 28 March 2014.Retrieved22 January2009.
  5. ^"VNUNet: Sky gambles on 365 Media Group".Archived fromthe originalon 17 February 2007.Retrieved22 January2009.
  6. ^"Media247: New interactive Sky betting service".Archived fromthe originalon 14 May 2011.Retrieved22 January2009.
  7. ^"Sky Betting and Gaming Fined for Self-Exclusion Failings".Casinoreviews.net.9 March 2022.Retrieved11 March2022.
  8. ^"£1.17m fine for marketing to vulnerable consumers".Gambling Commission.9 March 2022.Retrieved11 March2022.
  9. ^"Regulatory sanctions – Bonne Terre Limited – Gambling Commission".Gambling Commission.22 February 2022.Retrieved11 March2022.

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