Winner Online has been granted the first ever online sports betting license issued by Israel's Sports Betting Council and has contracted software developer Zone4Play to develop and launch a cross-platform sports book for Internet, mobile and eventually interactive TV.
The council issued the license as a means of generating income for education and sports. Betting on sports through traditional means has been sponsored and approved by the council, but until now there was no online gaming in Israel. The government, which is reviewing the possibility of establishing the country's first casino in Eilat, appears to be welcoming gambling as a way to boost revenues allocated toward social projects.
For now, sports wagering in the country is limited mostly to betting on the Israeli soccer league or on matches involving the national soccer team, but the council is considering adding more variety, such as international matches.
Winner Online offers sports betting at its www.winneronline.co.il Web site. The page is available only in Hebrew, but it could possibly launch Russian and Arabic versions in the future (Israel has three official languages--Hebrew, English, and Arabic--and two unofficial languages--Russian and Amharic).
Isreal's Sports Betting Council, because it is a state entity, is the agency that provides betting propositions and information. Zone4Play, which provides the front and back ends for Winner Online's betting service, integrates that information into the Winner Online website so that players may bet online.
The Winner Online platform is equipped with an e-management back-office suite of applications that gives the operator CRM-oriented modules, marketing modules and an e-wallet for managing player accounts and clearing transactions. The front end gives the player results and online betting feeds, submission modules, account management and transaction history features.
Based in Tel Aviv, Zone4Play is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ, and also offers other services across multiple channels, including casino games, fixed-odds products, interactive lotteries and bingo. The company has Chello Broadband, LodgeNet Entertainment Corp, Smart Philippines, Avago (the popular numbers game on Sky Digital in the United Kingdom) and several other international businesses as customers. Its partners include NDS, TwoWayTV, and Eurofun.