Sky Betting and Gaming

Sky Betting and Gaming

Industry	Gambling
Headquarters	Isleworth, London and Leeds, West Yorkshire
Products	Sports betting, online poker, online casino and online bingo.

Sky Betting and Gaming is a British-based gambling company, and a subsidiary of BSkyB, with offices at Sky's headquarters in Isleworth, London and in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The company consists chiefly of five websites and two TV channels. On 21 October 2011, the company's services were changed into the new "tube" look which accompanies many of BSkyB's channels.

Sky Bet

Sky Bet logo used from 31 August 2008 until 31 December 2009.

Sky Bet logo used from 1 January 2010 until 20 October 2011.

Sky Bet is the sports betting division of Sky Betting and Gaming, with the majority of its operations run from Leeds. The company allows betting via its website, telephone, mobile phone (WAP) and interactive television through Sky. It remains one of the few sports betting companies in the UK not to operate traditional high street shops. The company uses the slogan 'It matters more when there's money on it'.

Sky Bet is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission.

Sky Bet has a dedicated TV channel of the same name on Sky channel 864.

History

Sky Bet's origins lie in BSkyB's acquisition of Sports Internet Group in July 2000^[1] which included the small telephone and online 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 totalbet and ukbetting were consolidated into Sky Bet after BSkyB's purchase of 365 Media Group^[2]. Sky Bet features heavily (through advertising and shared content) on the former 365 Media Group sites, as well as skysports.com thanks to their common ownership and proximity (they are based in nearby Leeds). Sky Bet's success has prompted Sky to branch out within the betting and gaming industry.

Sky Vegas

Sky Vegas logo used from 1 January 2010 until 20 October 2011.

Sky Vegas is the company's online casino division. It currently offers an online casino website. The company's online casino offering is distinguished from the majority of its competitors in that it now plays in-browser rather than requiring a software download (currently being flash based, formerly distributed on CD). The company uses the slogan 'All the best games, all in one place'.

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 Sky Bet.

History

'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'^[3]. As its name indicated, it was then part of Sky Bet but has since been made more separate been rebranded to simply 'Sky Vegas' (SkyBetVegas.com is still running, although it is gradually being amalgamated into SkyVegas.com). When limitations on broadcasting Casino games through IDTV were lifted, the company began to offer games through its interactive facility alongside the Sky Vegas Live channel, which shows betting opportunities such as Virtual Horse and Greyhound races. Both the online casino and the television channel re-branded as Sky Vegas in January 2008.

Sky Poker

Sky Poker logo used from 1 January 2010 until 20 October 2011.

Sky Poker is the company's online poker division, which allows users to play poker on their website and screens selected hands from various games and tournaments (on a slight delay) on its television channel of the same name. Like Sky Vegas the company offers its service in browser rather than with downloadable software, although recently this has changed and downloadable software is now available. The company uses the slogan 'Where Poker Comes Alive'. The channel Sky Poker launched in February 2007 with a program entitled "The Open", which is a (£10 entry) poker tournament. Since then the channel has expanded to show more content from the site, as well as the Sky Poker Tour (SPT). On the TV, Sky Poker typically has a presenter and an analyst, with occasional studio guests. Each hand shown is analysed by both the presenter and the analyst.

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

Tournaments

• The Open - A £10 buy-in, and the most popular tournament.
• Primo - A £55 buy-in, which can mean a prize pool of up to £25,000
• Velocity - A £5 buy-in, with extremely fast blinds
• Sky Sports Bounty Hunter - A £33 buy-in tournament, which is also shown on Sky Sports. The action is action-packed and some of the guests who have featured in the studio to cover the tournament include Luke Schwartz, Neil Channing, Ian Frazer (poker player) and WPT champion McLean Karr.

Players can also "satellite" into a tournament, which means qualifying through a series of smaller tournaments, for a small amount of money.

Other Programmes

• Sky Poker School - Analysts and Team Sky Poker members discuss the play from viewers who submit hands for analysis. The aim is to educate poker players in skills such as position, bankroll management and bluffing.
• Master Cash - A show dedicated exclusively to cash games. The biggest pots of the week are aired, along with live play from the cash tables each Saturday night.
• Bounty Hunter Live - A live show on Thursday nights covering action from the regular Thursday night tournament, 'The Bounty Hunter', where players earn money as they eliminate opponents.

Sky Bingo

Sky Bingo logo used from 1 January 2010 until 20 October 2011.

Sky Bingo is the company's latest venture, an online bingo division run from their Isleworth office. Sky Bingo is offered via a website and interactive television through Sky.^[4] The company uses the slogan 'Believe in Better Bingo', echoing BSkyB's 'Believe in Better'.

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

Oddschecker

Oddschecker is an odds comparison website, which compares the odds offered by the most popular betting companies that cater to British customers, including Sky Bet. It forms part of the betting content of some other sites, such as Bettingzone and The Guardian^[5]. The company also offer reviews and comparison of online gambling websites through its 'Casinochecker', 'Pokerchecker' and 'Bingochecker' sections.

Acquisition of GoldBet

In April 2004, 365mediagroup or ukbetting as it was known at the time, the UK’s leading sports content and online gaming business, announced the acquisition of GoldBet SportWetten GmbH (“GoldBet”), the European online sports betting company, for a maximum consideration of €4.5 million, dependent on the achievement of certain performance criteria. For the year ended December 2003, GoldBet had recorded EBITDA of €260,000 on revenues of €8.5 million, with a net asset value of €246,415, and no bank debt.

Trevor Beaumont, ukbetting’s Managing Director of Gaming, believed Europe represented a significant growth opportunity for ukbetting and sought to leverage the European market, a market that he was familiar with as former Racing and Trading Director of Corals and Managing Director of Eurobet.

BSkyB then owned GoldBet in December 2006 after the purchase of 365 Media Group.^[6]

Notes

1. ^ "An introduction to Sky Bet". http://corporate.sky.com/documents/pdf/a1c7f52fecb345a9b575250b02b0e193/395361917bb945168154d53c63d3afce/introduction_to_sky_bet.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
2. ^ "VNUNet: Sky gambles on 365 Media Group". http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2171146/sky-gambles-365-media-group. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
3. ^ "Media247: New interactive Sky betting service". http://media247.co.uk/skydigital/newsarchive/2005/08/gambling_law_ch.php. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
4. ^ "Bullet Business: Sky Broadcasting introduces interactive TV bingo". http://social.bulletbusiness.com/content/sky-broadcasting-introduces-interactive-tv-bingo. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
5. ^ The Guardian's Betting Page
6. ^ acquisition-of-goldbet

External links

• Sky Bet
• Oddschecker