by Anton Johan
Bodog, one of the industry's leading online gambling entities, announced
that the Gambling Commission has issued it with a license to provide certain
gambling services to the UK market.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Bodog Europe, Patrik Selin, the
new online gambling site that is set to service the UK market, will be up and
running in around three months time. There are plans to locate servers in a
secure location, and Bodog is seeking to hire around 100 employees to run and
service the site.
Speaking in an interview, Selin spoke of the potential of the UK market. "We
have taken a long term view on the United Kingdom," he said. "It is the largest
regulated market in the world today and we want to be part of that. The key
thing is to develop trust with the UK customer."
Selin would not speculate about when he expected the new UK facing online
gambling site to start making a profit. He, himself, will head the new Bodog UK
unit.
Online Poker in the Pipeline
According to the CEO, Bodog will, for now, be able to provide
online sports betting and online casino games to the UK market; however, efforts
are being made to also provide online poker
Bodog has three separate entities that operate under three
different licenses. Bodog88 operates out of the Philippines and is an Asian
facing site. Bodog.co.uk operates out of Antigua, while Bodog.eu (formerly
Bodog.com prior to Black Friday) carries a Kahnawake license. Plans are being
made to shift the Antigua license to the UK license.
The license opens new doors to Bodog. Selin said that now that
the sites have been licensed, the group can do "lots more deals with lots more
companies."
"You can suddenly do a lot more with media companies, you can
advertise more freely and there can be more cooperation with media," he said.
"We are going to do a couple of things that will surprise people once we do
these deals. We are in negotiations at the moment."
