Betsson Group has expanded its footprint across eastern Europe after making its maiden entry into the Belarus market via an initial offering that includes casino, sportsbook and poker under the Europebet brand.
Furthermore, alongside commencing operations within the country, Betsson has a opened an office in the capital city of Minsk, which will gain responsibility for customer service as well as administrative and operational activities.
Europebet.by is the first brand to offer poker in the Belarusian market. Several gaming providers are already on board and a wider portfolio of games by other suppliers will be added shortly. A live casino offering will also be introduced in the coming weeks.
Pontus Lindwall, CEO of Betsson, said of the move: “Building on the success of Europebet in Georgia, the expansion into nearby Belarus is a natural step in our business growth strategy.
“We started looking into this market back in 2019 and have been preparing for this expansion ever since. As an operator, we will be introducing a high-quality and entertaining product, an excellent customer experience, innovative technology as well as providing multiple job opportunities through our new office in Minsk.”
Last week, Betsson cited strong sportsbook performance, driven by two major continental football tournaments, as helping the Stockholm-listed firm overcome Norwegian and Swedish regulatory headwinds.
Publishing a Q2 trading update, Betsson registered a significant increase in its sportsbook trading margin to 8.5 per cent, indexing above its eight-quarter rolling average margin of 7.4 per cent.
As a result of the strong sportsbook activity and high margin, as well as a ‘favourable product mix’, Betsson group revenue is expected to amount to SEK 1.73bn-1.75bn, whilst the firm has also delivered ‘its strongest quarter ever in terms of EBIT’.
Betsson predicts that EBIT ‘will be at an all-time high level’ in the range of SEK 375m-385m (Q2 2020: SEK 217.7m), a growth rate of 72 per cent-77 per cent year-on-year and 36 per cent-39 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
