April 15, 2010 (CAP Newswire) – One of the world’s biggest online betting brands has announced a new global strategy that will take it into the American market. A news release issued this week by Austrian-based online gambling firm bwin Interactive Entertainment announced that the company is gearing up to enter not only the U.S. market, but several South American nations as well.
The announcement that the company would re-enter the U.S. market was delivered with the hopeful qualification “when the market is liberalised again shortly”.
“We are in talks with possible partners from the casino and media areas; we want to start by 2011 at the latest,” Chief Executive Norbert Teufelberger told Austrian daily Kurier, according to a report in Reuters.
Bwin has had somewhat bad luck in its attempts to enter the U.S. market in years past. Back in 2006, it purchased Swedish online poker operator Ongame for $680 million right before the U.S. unexpectedly passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) at the end of the year, effectively banning online poker. (According to the story, Teufelberger states that bwin is not interested in selling Ongame.)
In addition, Bwin has announced the debut of a new broadcasting system called Sheeva, which it will introduce at Las Vegas’ National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show later this month. “The platform will combine live video and instant messaging,” eGaming Review reports, “with the integration of real-time data from the site’s online gaming line-up. Users will be able to view moderator-controlled Skype chat and live data alongside sports broadcasts. Bwin has partnered with Austrian broadcast specialist ToolsOnAir.”
Click here for information on bwin’s online gambling affiliate program.