Bwin Negotiating Partnership with Russian Bookmakers: Report

The Russian offshoot of bookmaker Bwin is in active negotiations for a partnership with fellow Russia bookmakers, including Cyprus-registered Parimatch Holdings, Kommersant reported.

According to the business newspaper, the Russian partner with whom Austria-based GVC Holdings launched Bwin.ru back in November 2017, Digital Betting LLC, had been in negotiations with Parimatch, which has a licensing deal with Betring LLC, enabling it to operate in the Russian market.

It was also reported that Digital Betting had been talking to other gambling operators, including S8 Holding, which is the parent company of Russian-based bookmaker 888.ru and the Stolotto lottery operators.

Digital Betting is itself owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, who also own another part of the Bwin.ru joint partnership – online technology company Rambler & Co. The current CEO of Digital Betting, Dmitry Sergeyev, left a role with Rambler last week.

When Bwin.ru was launched, Sergeyev revealed that Mamut was ready to invest $11 million per annum in helping to market the site through Rambler’s media network, which would enable Bwin to gain a ten percent share in the Russian betting market. But a report into online traffic last year, it was revealed that Bwin.ru was struggling to make headway and was ranked 12th out of 16 gambling operators.

Rambler also runs online sports portal Championat.com, which itself recently renewed an exclusive marketing deal with Russian bookmaker Fonbet, and according to the report, a source in the industry said that the Fonbet renewal had damaged Bwin.ru’s marketing plans.