Online betting operator Bet365 has revealed that they're shifting their operations center in Gibraltar to Malta as the United Kingdom works on leaving the European Union.
The company will be shifting most of their operations in Gibraltar to the island of Malta, which also serves as a major regulatory hub for online gaming. The move is being made in an effort to maintain access to the broad European market, which may be complicated when the UK leaves the EU. It doesn't appear that the company is leaving Gibraltar fully, but Bet365 was vague about what their presence in the territory will be moving forward.
The Times of Malta newspaper filed a story that claimed that Bet365 was involved in a €70 million deal to build a hub in Malta. That agreement was set to begin on March 30th, but has been extended as the UK hasn't formulated a plan to leave the EU.
A Bet365 spokesman spoke about the decision, sharing: "As part of our strategic and contingency plans to ensure EU market access and to maintain and enhance operational efficiencies, we have been building our presence in Malta and operating a dual regulatory and licensing strategy between Gibraltar and Malta for a number of years. However, from an operational and technical perspective and given our operating model, it has become increasingly challenging to efficiently run such multisite operations and this has necessarily resulted in us conducting a review of our operations.
"We also continue to operate in a highly uncertain environment, driven primarily by the continuing Brexit landscape. Therefore, to assist with business planning and in order to maintain operational effectiveness, we intend to enhance our Maltese operational hub and relocate certain functionality there."
Comments
I'm really hoping that the UK plans of leaving the EU wont influence the availability of Bet365 here cause it's by far my N1 choice sportsbook so I really don't want to see them being away.
I'm sure the company as well would do anything possible to keep their presence at the Eourpean markets so let's hope the Malta transition would do the job for that.
Oh, Brexit is also affecting gambling landscape in one way or another. There are some online casinos only for UK market, and except them, I think that other casinos won't want to lose European players.
By the way, Bet365 is one of the biggest online casinos making huge money, so they can operate another big office in Malta too 😀
It is an interesting news.
sharpe