bwin

bwin – known as betandwin from its founding until 2006 – began life with 12 employees in 1997. The company launched its first online gambling site just one year after the company was founded, focusing on the growing sports betting market. One of the most important developments in the history of the company was the launch of its live bet product, developed in house, allowing players to place bet on sporting events while the actual event is taking place. The firm's initial public offering at the Austrian Stock Exchange took place in March 2000. In June 2001, betandwin acquired Simon Bold (Gibraltar), which is now known as bwin International Ltd., essentially moving its operations to Gibraltar. The move was made to follow some of the company’s biggest rivals to the British Overseas Territory. By December 2001, betandwin was ready to step into the online casino gaming market and did so by launching its first casino platform. Two years later, in July 2003, betandwin introduced and launched a soft games platform known as Balls of Fire. In November 2004, betandwin launched multiplayer poker. The group acquired betoto.com to expand its presence in the Greek market in June 2005, a company which offers a fixed-odds betting service to punters around the globe. December of the same year marked another major acquisition – Ongame e-Solutions AB was taken over. This acquisition was a move consistent with the group’s strategy to expand into the poker market, after the takeover Ongame e-Solutions changed its name to bwin Games. Still in 2005 betandwin acquired global media rights outside of Germany to the Germany Football League. In August 2006 betandwin launched the new bwin brand. This was done after it was found that the betandwin brand, which was described as "descriptive, high-grade and functional", was not suited anymore for the wide assortment of entertainment offerings covered by the company, including sports betting, poker, soft games, and casino games. In 2007, bwin began to offer live streaming of major sports events.

In September 2009, bwin announced the acquisition of Italian poker operator Gioco Digitale, marking the company's entry into the Italian online gambling market.[4][5]

The company's subsidiaries and affiliated companies offer sports betting, poker, casino games and soft games, as well as audio and video streams on sporting events, such as the German Bundesliga. These are all provided via the Internet, and many are also available via other digital distribution channels, such as mobile phone.

bwin Games AB — founded in 1999 and formerly known as Ongame e-solutions AB — became part of the bwin Group following its acquisition, in March 2006, by bwin Interactive Entertainment AG.

Within the bwin Group, bwin Games AB acts as the competence centre for poker and casino games, developing products via digital distribution channels for bwin proprietarily owned brands, such as PokerRoom.com, HoldemPoker.com, eCardroom.com, PokerGaming.com, Europoker.com, and the Ongame Network partners.

The global legal framework for Internet gambling is a complicated mix of laws and regulations, bwin's situation varies therefore depending on the country concerned. For several years now, the United Kingdom and Italy have been examples of countries that have regulated their online gaming markets to the advantage of all stakeholders. Just recently, Italy extended its online licences to include poker tournaments, and countries like France, Spain and Denmark announced their intention of permitting private operators access to their markets under stringent conditions and controls. Other countries, on the other hand, are still pursuing a policy of maintaining a state monopoly of internet gaming, or even a complete ban.

On 15 September 2006, Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner were arrested[12] at a press conference in La Turbie, France, due to offenses against the French gambling laws. After an investigation the judge released them on the evening of September 18, 2006.

bwin stopped taking bets from United States players in October 2006, due to the signing of the Safe Port Act.[13]

On 6 March 2007, the European Court of Justice struck down Italian national gambling restrictions in the Placanica case.[14]

The EFTA Court held hearings in January 2007 to decide on the admissibility of a state monopoly for betting and gaming according to European Law. The decision of the EFTA Court will be made on 14 March 2007.

Among bwin's sponsoring activities, the group is a partner of leading European sports.

bwin sponsored football giant Real Madrid from 2007 to 2013 and they were also a premium partner of FC Bayern Munich. In October 2010, bwin announced a sponsorship for the upcoming three football seasons in which they would be the title sponsor of the Portuguese League Cup (named the "bwin Cup").[15] Italy's second tier, Serie B, was sponsored by them after a two-year sponsorship deal was signed in July 2010 until 2012. Additionally, bwin cooperates with the International Basketball Association (FIBA) and has been sponsoring the European and World Basketball Championships since 2006. In the area of motorsport, the company is one of the main sponsors of the MotoGP series. In 2010, bwin became the title sponsor of the races in Jerez and Estoril and official partner of the GP in Brno, Misano, Mugello. In the past, many other top events in the international and local sports world were supported by the corporation. Bwin also lent its name to the Primeira Liga (bwinLIGA), sponsored Italian football club Milan from 2006 to 2010 and has also been a partner to famous clubs such as Juventus and Werder Bremen.[16]

In addition, bwin organizes numerous poker events both online and offline. One of the biggest regular online tournaments is the ChampionChip. Special poker tournaments like the Weekly Country Showdown or the bwin Dailies offer a huge range of tournaments adjust to country specifics and buy-in levels. Periodically there are launched new types and variations of Sit & Go's. Via several online qualifiers the bwin user can 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 offers a special route, the Rookie Challenge. There a new poker player has the chance to climb up several stages for free to earn real money tickets.

The company have faced some opposition in Europe over sponsorship of sports, especially football. In 2006, Bremen banned its top football team, Sportverein Werder Bremen, from carrying the bwin logo on its shirts.[17] In November 2009, the city acted further by moving against sports stores which sold shirts from other teams (such as Milan and Real Madrid).

A dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility department of the company is in charge of social responsibility. Protection of minors, protection against manipulation of bets as well as prevention of gaming addiction are key aspects of the bwin CSRphilosophy. Bwin supports research in this field in a joint project with Harvard Medical School. Bwin is co-founder of the EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association), where it lobbies for fair competition within a regulated online gaming market. As founder and member of the ESSA (European Sports Security Association), bwin campaigns against manipulation and fraud in the fields of sports and betting.[18]

At the annual EGR Awards organized by eGaming Review magazine, bwin won the "Operator of the Year 2009" award.[19]

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