Yesterday, the Swedish gambling group Betsson AB announced that they would be closing all of their brands in the UK but one.
The news came very suddenly and the players didn’t have long to react, because Betsson stopped taking bets and accepting deposits shortly after. Jackpot247, Betsafe, and LiveRoulette are among the sites affected.
No one has anything to worry about however, as all money in affected accounts will be returned and any outstanding bets paid out as winners.
The real question here is why has it happened and which casino have they decided to keep in the game?
Taking a Rizk on the UK
If you didn’t guess from our hilariously clever title, the brand Betsson is going to leave open to UK customers is Rizk.
Best known as a casino but also offering sports betting services, Rizk is one of the company’s most popular brands with UK customers, so it makes sense that this is the brand they chose to remain.
Their press release stated that:
“This initiative will increase efficiency and have a positive impact on the contribution from its UK business, it will also enable resources to be reallocated for profitable growth in other markets. ”
Betsson group’s interests in the UK represent just 3% of their overall business, since they operate in 11 other countries where these other brands will continue to trade.
Therefore, if they can funnel the majority of players from the brands that are closing to Rizk it will cut down their workload immensely, and if all goes to plan it won’t make too much of a dent to their UK profits either.
What is the Reason for Betsson’s UK Exit?
Betsson have been quite candid about how difficult they find the constant changes to the already heavily regulated UK market.
Quite simply, it just isn’t worth their while trying to keep up with the strict rules as it already costs a lot of money to trade in this country.
Having 4 licenses for their various businesses is an expense in itself, not to mention the investments that would be needed to improve their technology to meet responsible gambling and compliance rules.
With their new single brand approach to the UK, they only need a single license and can hopefully send all of their customers from the brands that are closing to Rizk.