Former online gambling company
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment was an online gambling
company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc ♣ and Bwin Interactive
Entertainment AG. Formerly the world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm,[2]
it was best known for its ♣ online poker room PartyPoker, World Poker Tour and its sports
betting brand Bwin (officially styled bwin).
The company was headquartered in ♣ Gibraltar
and quoted on the London Stock Exchange. PartyGaming Plc was founded in 1997 with the
launch of Starluck Casino. ♣ Prior to passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006 by the U.S. Congress, the firm was the ♣ world's largest online
poker brand, based on cash game revenue and number of players. Its market share has
fallen since ♣ then, but it remains the third largest online poker room in the world,
behind PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.[3]
The new ♣ company became the world's largest
publicly traded online gaming firm in 2010, 48.4% owned by existing PartyGaming
shareholders and 51.6% ♣ by bwin shareholders. The merged company was listed on the
London Stock Exchange, with joint CEOs Norbert Teufelberger and Jim ♣ Ryan.[4]
Following
a protracted bidding process between 888 Holdings and Entain, Bwin.Party confirmed on 4
September 2024 that it had accepted ♣ GVC's bid for £1.1 billion. The transaction was
completed on 1 February 2024.
History [ edit ]
Party Gaming and Bwin merged ♣ on 31 March
2011. The rumors of a planned Bwin and Party merger began in November 2009, but were
not ♣ confirmed until a joint statement was issued 26 August 2010.[4] In December 2010
shareholders were sent a 478-page document with ♣ details and an outline of planned
merger. On 28 Jan 2011 the merger was approved by shareholders and then completed ♣ on 31
March 2011.
In October 2012, bwin announced the sale of its leading online poker
network, Ongame, to Amaya Gaming ♣ Group in a deal worth up to €25 million.[5]
In
November 2013 it was announced that bwin.party had applied for an ♣ online gaming licence
for the state of New Jersey in July, and on 8 November had been awarded a transactional
♣ waiver by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement allowing it to participate in
the online gaming market in the ♣ state, prior to a full licence being granted. The group
launched both poker and casino games under the land-based casino ♣ licence of its New
Jersey partner, Borgata Casino, the launch included both Borgata's and its own brands,
including partypoker.[6] By ♣ the end of December, the new partypoker site had acquired
50% of the cash game traffic in New Jersey.[7]
Following a ♣ protracted bidding process
between 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings, Bwin.Party confirmed on 4 September 2024 that it
had accepted GVC's ♣ bid for £1.1 billion.[8] The transaction was completed on 1 February
2024,[9] as indicated by cancellation of LSE traded shares ♣ on 2 February
2024.[10]
Products and services [ edit ]
Sports betting [ edit ]
Sports bets were the
core business at bwin, ♣ with a sports betting lineup including more than 90 different
sports; the principal customer interest is soccer. In order to ♣ boost bwin's presence in
the UK football betting market, the company launched bwinbetting in 2011. Other sports
included all popular ♣ ball-related sports, US sports as well as all major winter sports
and motorsports ranging from Formula 1 to MotoGP. "Exotic" ♣ sports such as roller
hockey, futsal and darts were also included in the daily lineup. Customers could also
find odds ♣ on a range of events outside of sports. These included bets on politics and
entertainment such as the Oscars, talent ♣ shows, the Eurovision Song Contest and "Miss"
events.[11]
Poker [ edit ]
The following types of games were offered at bwin Poker:
♣ Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and Five-card
draw, plus house variations like Double ♣ (three hole cards, choose two, halfway between
Hold'em and Omaha). In terms of stakes, users could choose between Fixed Limit, ♣ Pot
Limit or No Limit tables. A "play money" version of the games was also available for
users to try ♣ out for free. bwin offered poker tournaments, both Sit & Go and scheduled,
and cash games (ring games). Sit & ♣ Go tournaments began as soon as the table was
completely occupied. Scheduled tournaments began at a specified time and allowed ♣ for
higher numbers of participants and the highest prize pools. In cash games the players
could join and leave whenever ♣ they wanted. bwin Poker could be played using the Mac OS
X Poker Client, the Windows Poker Client, the Java ♣ Poker Client or the Poker app for
Android or the iPhone. The Mac and Windows version offered an extensive selection ♣ of
features such as statistics and a mini-table function. The Java client was
platform-independent as it was a browser-based solution. ♣ In January 2011, bwin launched
a dedicated Poker app for the iPhone to allow real money poker. This was followed ♣ in
July 2011 by a similar application for Android-based devices. The mobile client allowed
customers to play cash games on ♣ their mobile phones. Both apps were restricted to
limited territories as permitted by local laws.[12]
PokerRoom was an online poker
cardroom ♣ founded in 1999. Licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, PokerRoom
offered both play and real money formats. Tournaments and ring ♣ games were available in
both web-browser and download client platforms, with support for both Macintosh and
Linux. PokerRoom was one ♣ of the first online poker sites to provide multi-language
support, and catered to Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and ♣ Swedish
speakers. These languages were accessed via "regional sites", many of them showing
local sponsoring for the selected region. After ♣ 10 years of operation, bwin announced
the closure of PokerRoom on 14 April 2009.[13] It was relaunched in 2012 but ♣ shut down
again on 19 February 2013.[14]
Bingo [ edit ]
Following the acquisition of Cashcade in
2009, bwin.party took control of ♣ a B2C portfolio of online bingo brands including Foxy
Bingo, PartyBingo and Cheeky Bingo. Cashcade was the first company to ♣ promote online
bingo to a mass market via television advertising and was first to develop the "free
bingo" concept to ♣ attract new customers. Bwin began offering bingo at the end of
December 2009 when its Italian subsidiary, Gioco Digitale, launched ♣ bingo as the first
authorised Italian private online gaming operator.[15]
Casino games [ edit ]
bwin
offered more than 100 games, ranging ♣ from classics such as roulette or blackjack to
slot machines and casino tournaments. The casino has a longstanding tradition at ♣ bwin:
In 2001, it was introduced as a second product, after sports betting.[16] The biggest
ever casino jackpot win happened ♣ in 2014 when an individual won a little over 6 million
Euros.
Soft games [ edit ]
bwin offered more than 60 ♣ games divided into the categories
of Fortune Games, Skill Games, Mini Games and "ParaDice", as well as Backgammon. This
was ♣ the product group with the biggest potential for innovation and expansion on the
market.[17]
Legal Status [ edit ]
As the global ♣ legal framework for internet gambling
is a complicated mix of laws and regulations, bwin's situation varied depending on the
country ♣ concerned. Recently, Italy extended its online licences to include poker
tournaments, and countries such as Denmark and Spain announced their ♣ intention to
permit private operators access to their markets under stringent conditions and
controls. On the other hand, other countries ♣ maintain a state monopoly on internet
gaming, or ban it completely.
On 15 September 2006, Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred
Bodner were ♣ arrested at a press conference in La Turbie, France, for allegedly breaking
French gambling laws.[18] After an investigation, a judge ♣ released them three days
later. When France opened their market for private online gaming in June 2010, bwin
became the ♣ first operator there.
In February 2013, the Australian Communications and
Media Authority referred the Bwin arm of bwin.party to the Australian ♣ Federal Police
for contraventions of the Interactive Gambling Act. The Act prohibits gambling
companies from providing 'interactive' gambling services to ♣ those in Australia.
Penalties for each breach, which can be for each day, areR$220,000 for individuals
andR$1.1 million for corporations.
Bwin ♣ recently sponsored football giants Real Madrid,
A.C. Milan and Bayern Munich and more recently Olympique de Marseille.[19] In October
2010, ♣ Bwin announced a sponsorship for the upcoming three football seasons in which it
would be the title sponsor of the ♣ Taça de Portugal, named the "Bwin Cup".[20] Italy's
second tier, Serie B, has already been re-branded "Serie bwin" after a ♣ two-year
sponsorship deal was signed in July 2010.
On 16 August 2012, bwin announced it was
entering into a digital partnership ♣ with Manchester United to become the club's
official online gaming and betting partner.
In the past, many other top events in ♣ the
international and local sports world were supported by the corporation. Bwin also
sponsored the Portuguese first football league (bwinLIGA) ♣ and has been partner to clubs
such as Juventus and Werder Bremen.[21]
Bwin cooperated with the International
Basketball Association (FIBA) and ♣ has sponsored the European and World Basketball
Championships since 2006. A second basketball sponsorship is Euroleague Basketball.
Bwin's marketing and ♣ media rights agreement for Euroleague events expired in June
2014.
In the area of motorsport, the company was one of the ♣ main sponsors of the MotoGP
series. In 2012, it was the title sponsor of the races in Jerez and GP ♣ in Brno and
official partner of the Misano, Mugello and Silverstone. In December 2011, bwin
announced it would be extending ♣ its Moto GP sponsorships through 2013.
In addition,
Bwin organised numerous poker events both online and offline. One of the biggest
♣ regular online tournaments was the ChampionChip. Special poker tournaments like the
Weekly Country Showdown or the Bwin Dailies offered a ♣ range of tournaments adjusted to
country specifics and buy-in levels. Periodically, there were launched new types and
variations of Sit ♣ & Go's. Also, several online qualifiers the Bwin user could qualify
for offline events like the World Series of Poker ♣ (WSOP), the Aussie Millions and
events on the World Poker Tour. For "poker newbies", Bwin offered the Rookie Challenge
where ♣ a new poker player had the chance to climb up several stages for free to earn
real money tickets.
The company ♣ faced some opposition in Europe over sponsorship of
sports, especially football. In 2006, the German city of Bremen banned its ♣ top football
club, Werder Bremen, from carrying the Bwin logo on its shirts.[22]
In January 2014,
the company announced major sponsorship ♣ deals with the New Jersey Devils and
Philadelphia 76ers. The combined deals included major advertising to the fans of both
♣ teams and the creation of the Dream Seat Series, which was a series of online poker
tournaments offering ticket packages ♣ to winners and other prizes to runners-up before
every home game.[23]
