Bethard Website Goes Live in Spain
Spanish players can now access Bethard’s website after the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling grants the online bookmaker a license. The operator continues its strategy of targeting regulated markets.
Brand ambassador Zlatan Ibrahimović delivered the news that the website Bethard.es went live via his Twitter feed last Thursday. In a 12-second clip, the LA Galaxy star gives a simple message of “you are welcome Spain; finally Bethard is live, and we welcome all the Spanish players to our site”.
Ibrahimović, whose former clubs include Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United became the brand ambassador for the Malta-based gambling operator in March last year, and his involvement in this press release has sparked rumours that a move to Spain is on the cards when his current contract expires with LA Galaxy.
The Bethard Group has been aggressively targeting the regulated betting markets and already holds licences for Sweden, the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Malta, as well as Spain and the company have stated they wish to have licenses in all of the major markets for sports betting and e-gaming in place by 2021.
Bethard Group CEO Erik Skarp said he believed the Spanish market offered lots of potential for the company, and despite problems in the beginning, it would pay dividends in the long-term. He said;
Operator Continues its Regulated Market Strategy
Even though we have experienced short-term challenges as a consequence of operating in regulated markets, we still believe that long term value and stability resides in such jurisdictions.– Erik Skarp, Bethard Group CEO
The operator recently signed a five-year extension on its partnership with sportsbook provider SBTech. Skarp hailed the partnership, describing it as being a significant growth driver for the business across its key markets. The CEO paid tribute to the platform saying it was “hugely powerful and provides us with great flexibility”, also adding that it enables speed to market which mirrors the company’s new market strategy.
Andrew Cochrane who is SBTech’s CCO also praised the working relationship between the two companies, stating that the new deal was a testament to the increasing value of the partnership and the high level of trust that they had built in the two years of working together.
While Bethard has outsourced its sportsbook offering to SBTech, the company’s plan for growth is likely to be dependant on their casino offering. Unlike the sportsbook, Bethard’s casino platform has been built on its technology which is expected to provide more income with fewer costs.
The company is also stepping up its social responsibility efforts with the announcement that Bethard had joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). By doing so the company has agreed to share betting data with the IBIA platform which is designed to identify and report on suspicious betting patterns based on customer’s gambling behaviour.
