bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, formerly known as betandwin, is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n online betting brand acquired by Entain PLC. The group operated under international and regional licences in countries like Gibraltar, the Amerindian reserve of Kahnawake (Canada), and

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

; and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. bwin offered

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...

games, soft and skill games with most revenue coming from poker and sports betting. bwin had over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Competence centres were located in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Stockholm, and Gibraltar. The company provided services for its subsidiaries such as marketing, finance and administration, corporate communications, controlling and IT services. All operational activities were managed by licensed subsidiaries. It was listed on the

Vienna Stock Exchange en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

from March 2000 until the company's merger with

PartyGaming PartyGaming plc was a network of gambling sites operated by Ruth Parasol in the Caribbean. Founded in 1997, the network eventually operated under an umbrella company called iGlobalMedia, which then changed its name to PartyGaming. PartyGaming's fla ...

plc in March 2011, forming Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. That company was purchased by

GVC Holdings Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker, and Sp ...

in February 2016; GVC continues to use bwin as a brand.

History

bwin – known as betandwin from its founding until 2006 – began with 12 employees in 1997. The company launched its first

online gambling Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery i ...

site just one year after the company was founded, focusing on the growing

market. One of the most important developments in the history of the company was the launch of its live bet product, developed in house, allowing players to place bet on sporting events while the actual event was taking place. The firm's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

at the Austrian Stock Exchange took place in March 2000. In June 2001, bwin acquired Simon Bold ( Gibraltar), which is now known as bwin International Ltd., essentially moving its operations to Gibraltar. The move was made to follow some of the company’s biggest rivals to the British Overseas Territory. By December 2001, bwin was ready to step into the

online casino Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional ("brick and mortar") casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. It is a prolific form of ...

gaming market and did so by launching its first casino platform. Two years later, in July 2003, bwin introduced and launched a soft games platform known as Balls of Fire. In November 2004, bwin launched multiplayer

. The group acquired betoto.com to expand its presence in the Greek market in June 2005, a company which offers a

fixed-odds betting Fixed-odds betting is a form of wagering against odds offered by a bookmaker or an individual or on a bet exchange. It involves betting on an event in which there is no fluctuation on the payout. In Australia, the practice is usually known as " ...

service to punters around the globe. December of the same year marked another major acquisition – Ongame e-Solutions AB was taken over. This acquisition was a move consistent with the group’s strategy to expand into the poker market, after the takeover Ongame e-Solutions changed its name to bwin Games. Still in 2005 betandwin acquired global media rights outside of

to the Germany Football League. In August 2006 betandwin launched the new bwin brand. This was done after it was found that the betandwin brand, which was described as "descriptive, high-grade and functional", was not suited anymore for the wide assortment of entertainment offerings covered by the company, including

, soft games, and casino games. In 2007, bwin began to offer live streaming of major sports events. In September 2009, bwin announced the

acquisition Acquisition may refer to: * Takeover, the purchase of one company by another * Mergers and acquisitions, transactions in which the ownership of companies or their operating units are transferred or consolidated with other entities * Procurement, ...

of Italian poker operator Gioco Digitale, marking the company's entry into the Italian online gambling market. Bwin is often confused with BetWinner, but they are different bookmakers, with individual features and advantages.

PartyGaming merger

On April 1, 2011, bwin and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

gaming firm

announced their merger. The new company bwin.party became the world's largest publicly traded online gaming firm, 48.4% owned by existing PartyGaming shareholders and 51.6% by bwin shareholders. The merged company was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...

, with joint CEO's Norbert Teufelberger and Jim Ryan. After a takeover of bwin.party by British GVC Group, the brand bwin continues to exist as customer brand in the brand portfolio.

Products

The company's subsidiaries and affiliated companies offer sports betting,

, casino games and soft games, as well as audio and video streams on sporting events, such as the

German Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

. These are all provided via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

, and many are also available via other

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and othe ...

channels, such as

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...

Sports betting

Sports bets are the core business at bwin. Today, the sports betting line-up includes more than 90 different sports; the core area of customer interest is soccer. Other sports include all popular ball-related sports, US sports as well as all major

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold a ...

and

motorsports Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

ranging from

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

. "Exotic" sports such as Roller Hockey,

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

and

Darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the ...

are also included in the daily line-up. Not only sports are on offer in the betting line-up. Customers will find odds on a range of events outside the area of sports. These include bets on politics and entertainment such as the

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Talent Show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

s, the Eurovision Song Contest and "Miss" events.

Poker

The following types of games are offered at bwin

Poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

Texas Hold’em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fac ...

, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo,

Seven Card Stud Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States, ...

, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and

Five-card draw Five-card draw (also known as a Cantrell draw) is a poker variant that is considered the simplest variant of poker, and is the basis for video poker. As a result, it is often the first variant learned by new players. It is commonly played in ...

. In terms of stakes, users can choose between Fixed Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit tables. A "play money" version of the games is also available for users to try out for free. bwin offers

poker tournaments A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a " heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tabl ...

, both, Sit & Go and scheduled, and cash games (ring games). Sit & Go tournaments begin as soon as the table is completely occupied. Scheduled tournaments begin at a specified time and allow for higher numbers of participants and the highest prize pools. In cash games the players can join and leave whenever they want. bwin Poker can be played using the

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

Poker Client, the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

Poker Client, the

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Poker Client or the Mobile Poker Client. The Mac and Windows version offers an extensive selection of features such as statistics and a mini-table function. The Java client is platform independent as it is browser based. The mobile client allows customers to play cash games on their mobile phones.

Casino games

bwin offers its customers more than 1000+ games, ranging from classics such as

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

or blackjack to

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine ( Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively ...

s and casino tournaments. The casino has a longstanding tradition at bwin: In 2001, it was introduced as a second product, in addition to sports betting.

Soft games

bwin offers more than 60 games divided into the categories of Fortune Games, Skill Games, Mini Games and "ParaDice", as well as

Backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia an ...

. This is the product group with the biggest potential for innovation and expansion on the market.

bwin Games AB

bwin Games AB — founded in 1999 and formerly known as Ongame e-solutions AB — became part of the bwin Group following its acquisition, in March 2006, by bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Within the bwin Group, bwin Games AB acts as the competence centre for poker and casino games, developing products via digital distribution channels for bwin proprietarily owned brands, such as PokerRoom.com, HoldemPoker.com, eCardroom.com, PokerGaming.com, Europoker.com, and the Ongame Network partners.

PokerRoom.com

PokerRoom.com was an

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

cardroom founded in 1999. Licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, PokerRoom offered both play and real money formats.

Tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and ring games were available in both web-browser and download client platforms, with support for both

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

. PokerRoom was one of the first online poker sites to provide multi-language support, and catered to Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and Swedish speakers. These languages were accessed via "regional sites," many of them showing local sponsoring for the selected region.

Legal issues

PokerRoom also maintains a play money only site, PokerRoom.tv, that is advertised in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

on the boards of

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

rinks, as well as on U.S.

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

networks like

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Awards

PokerRoom has won industry awards such as Poker Site of the Year from the UK Gambling Awards in 2006 and Top Poker Software from the Online Gambling Magazine Awards in 2005.

Shutdown

After 10 years of operation, bwin announced the closure of PokerRoom.com on April 14, 2009. Players with money still left in their accounts were encouraged to transfer their balance and play at bwin.com. However, PokerRoom.com players with large "play money" accounts had to abandon those accounts when transferring to bwin.com.

Legal Status

The global legal framework for Internet gambling is a complicated mix of laws and regulations, bwin's situation varies therefore depending on the country concerned. For several years now, the United Kingdom and Italy have been examples of countries that have regulated their online gaming markets to the advantage of all stakeholders. Just recently,

extended its online licenses to include poker tournaments, and countries like

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

announced their intention of permitting private operators access to their markets under stringent conditions and controls. Other countries, on the other hand, are still pursuing a policy of maintaining a

state monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopol ...

of internet gaming, or even a complete ban. On 15 September 2006, Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner were arrested at a press conference in

La Turbie La Turbie (; oc, A Torbia; in Italian "Turbia" from ''tropea'', Latin for trophy) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. History La Turbie was famous in Roman times for the large monument, the Trophy of Augu ...

, due to offences against the French gambling laws. After an investigation the judge released them on the evening of September 18, 2006. While bwin stopped taking bets from United States players in October 2006, due to the signing of the

Safe Port Act The Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006 (or SAFE Port Act, ) was an Act of Congress in the United States covering port security and to which an online gambling measure was added at the last moment. The House and Senate pas ...

, the offerings became available again upon regulation of the markets. In the States where regulation is in place, the same product line as for bwin is available through BetMGM, the joint venture of bwin's parent company Entain PLC's with

MGM Resorts International MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and ...

. On 6 March 2007, the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Unio ...

struck down Italian national gambling restrictions in the Placanica case. The EFTA Court held hearings in January 2007 to decide on the admissibility of a state monopoly for betting and gaming according to European Law. The decision of the EFTA Court will be made on 14 March 2007. bwin ended its operations in Russia in February 2021. An agreement was made with

Parimatch Parimatch is an international sports betting company in Europe with headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus, founded in 1994. History Parimatch was established in 1994 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company entered the Russian market in 1998. The online ...

enabling customers to transfer platforms and their funds.

Sponsorship

bwin sponsored football giant

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

from 2007 to 2013 and they were also a premium partner of

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. In October 2010, bwin announced a sponsorship for the upcoming three football seasons in which they would be the title sponsor of the

Portuguese League Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** P ...

(named the "bwin Cup"). Italy's second tier,

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

, was sponsored by them after a two-year sponsorship deal was signed in July 2010 until 2012. Additionally, bwin cooperates with the

International Basketball Association The International Basketball Association (IBA) was founded in 1995 by a group of businessmen led by Tom Anderson. The original owners of franchises in the league were George Daniel (Black Hills Posse-Rapid City, SD), John Korsmo, Al Gardner, and A ...

(FIBA) and has been sponsoring the European and World Basketball Championships since 2006. In the area of motorsport, the company is one of the main sponsors of the

series. In 2010, bwin became the title sponsor of the races in

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

and

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has ...

and official partner of the GP in Brno, Misano, Mugello. In the past, many other top events in the international and local sports world were supported by the corporation. Bwin also lent its name to the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

(bwinLIGA), sponsored Italian football club

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

from 2006 to 2010 and has also been a partner to famous clubs such as

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

and

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

. In addition, bwin organised numerous poker events both online and offline. One of the biggest regular online tournaments was the ChampionChip. Special poker tournaments like the Weekly Country Showdown or the bwin Dailies offered a huge range of tournaments adjust to country specifics and buy-in levels. Periodically new types and variations of Sit & Go's were launched. Via several online qualifiers the bwin user could qualify for offline events like the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the

Aussie Millions The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a ...

and events on the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the ...

. For "poker newbies", bwin offered a special route, the Rookie Challenge. There a new poker player had the chance to climb up several stages for free to earn real money tickets. In 2008, bwin provided the luxury villa on ''bwin PokerIsland'' as filming location for the music video of

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

's hit Poker Face. The video featured bwin branded poker equipment as a

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

. The company faced some opposition in Europe over sponsorship of sports, especially football. In 2006,

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

banned its top football team, Sportverein Werder Bremen, from carrying the bwin logo on its shirts. In November 2009, the city acted further by moving against sports stores which sold shirts from other teams (such as Milan and Real Madrid). In 2017, bwin signed a three-year partnership with Italian football club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

becoming their first official betting partner. In 2019, bwin became

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the S ...

's main global sponsor. The three-year agreement was made official in July 2019. As of 2020 the agreement is in jeopardy with the Spanish government informing all

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

clubs that betting sponsors will be banned from the start of the 2021/22 season. In 2020, bwin announced a three-year partnership with the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

becoming the official sports betting partner of Belgium's top tier football division. The deal will also cover the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016 ...

and

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

. bwin are able to broadcast live coverage of matches to customers using both online and mobile platforms as part of the agreement. In April 2021, bwin signed a five-year partnership with

Liga Portugal The Liga Portugal (Portugal League), also known by its acronym LPFP, is a governing body that manages professional football club competitions in Portugal. It was founded in 1978 as Liga Portuguesa dos Clubes de Futebol Profissional and works as an ...

. As part of the deal the

, Portugal's top football division will be called Liga Portugal Bwin from July 2021 onward. In August 2021, bwin signed extended deals with

football clubs,

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional foot ...

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

and FC Köln as well as

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

clubs

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger ...

and

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. K ...

. As part of the deal bwin will serve as the exclusive sports betting provider for each team. Each of the agreements will run from the 2021-22 season until the end of the 2023-24 season. In September 2021, bwin signed a partnership with

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

to become an Official Partner of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

and the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on the ...

for the 2021-24 seasons.

Responsible Gaming

A dedicated

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...

department of the company was in charge of social responsibility. Protection of minors, protection against manipulation of bets as well as prevention of gaming addiction were key aspects of the bwin CSRphilosophy. bwin supported research in this field in a joint project with

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools ...

. bwin was co-founder of the EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association), where it lobbied for fair competition within a regulated online gaming market. As founder and member of the ESSA (European Sports Security Association), bwin campaigned against manipulation and

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

in the fields of sports and betting.

Awards

At the annual EGR Awards organised by '' eGaming Review'' magazine, bwin won the "Operator of the Year 2009" award.Bwin crowned EGR Operator of the Year 2009
, egrmagazine.com, 1 December 2009, accessed 3 December 2009.

References

External links

* {{official Entain 2011 disestablishments in Austria Online gambling companies of Austria 1997 establishments in Austria