888 Holdings to Power Sports Illustrated Sportsbook Set to Launch This Year
Another day, another business deal 'tween a sports media society and a gaming business firm gets inked. The owner Sports Illustrated announced Wed that Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings fetched exclusive rights to usage the iconic-US sports magazine’s make for sportsbook and iGaming trading operations in the US.
The number 1 SI Sportsbook is expected to set in motion inward CO inwards the coming months, according to a financial statement from the magazine publisher owned by Authentic Brands Group.
888 is i of the leaders in online betting and gaming globally and has owing(p) technology, products and marketing capabilities, and we are excited to partner with them to offer an innovative production receive for sports fans,” said Jamie Salter, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Authentic Brands Group, inward the statement.
In addition, Sports Illustrated will also commence thorough reporting of the sports betting space. That reporting, according to the release, testament cater analytic thinking and other resources to dedicate detailed info to both old stager and origin bettors.
There will also live a special gambling-themed edition of the magazine printed in August.
Earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the business deal would black market for 20 years. Authentic Brands Group would take in a licensing fee from 888 for the utilise of the Sports Illustrated brand. Authentic Brands would also receive a rough 5 percent wager inward 888’s US operations, with the potential for that bet to grow.
Who is 888?
In the US, 888 currently operates an online sportsbook and casino inwards New island of Jersey under its possess brand. It also provides the technology political platform for WSOP.com.
Now it’s found another partner, this time, mainly, for sports betting.
“We are excited virtually the potency to save our cutting-edge, proprietary sportsbook political platform into the market, providing Sports Illustrated fans with a first-class betting and gaming experience,” 888 CEO Itai Pazner said inwards the statement.
Last year, the companion proclaimed it had secured marketplace memory access inwards Colorado, Indiana, and Iowa. At that time, Yaniv Mount Sherman told Casino.org that the keep company could set in motion inward Robert Indiana sometime in 2021.
It’s unclear if 888 testament look to launch SI-themed sportsbook apps inward Hoosier State and Iowa in lieu of its own brand. An email seeking commentary sent ahead of time Thursday morning time ET was not returned.
Sports Illustrated and 888 had been rumored as possible partners for months, and SI reportedly isn’t the only when direct for the gaming company. Another rumored acquisition target area is William Hill’s sportsbook operations inward Europe. Those went on the market shortly after Caesars Entertainment unsympathetic on its acquisition of the sportsbook operator.
Caesars and 888 experience an existing relationship as 888 operates inwards New Jersey as mobile skins for Caesars. The WSOP.com online poker app is also operated past Caesars.
Sports Illustrated Still Draws an Audience
Sports Illustrated at present joins the likes of Yahoo!, Barstool Sports, and FOX Sports as media entities that experience their have branded sportsbook they put up utilise as a promotional vehicle
Founded in 1954, Sports Illustrated formerly was the pinnacle of sports journalism in the US as its weekly mag editions covered in-depth topics and gave readers insights into what was occurrence inwards all major sports.
As with to the highest degree news publications, the SI publish edition took a strike as more readers got their sports word online. Over time, the powder store changed hands as Time Inc. sold it, and what was formerly a weekly publication is now published just 16 times a year. It has a paid circulation of 1.6 jillion subscribers, but that’s less than half of the nearly 4 jillion subscribers it had 15 years ago.
Online, SI.com finds itself tracking Yahoo! Sports and ESPN inwards terms of unique visitors, but the sports situation is the 5th most pop inwards the US. According to eBizMBA, the estimated 20 one thousand thousand unique monthly readers places it betwixt CBSSports.com (30 zillion estimated) and NBCSports (19.5 million).
That’s allay a quite an substantial securities industry from which a sportsbook could draw.