British betting firm Ladbrokes is grabbing for a larger piece of the
Scandinavian betting pie using a two-pronged approach.
The first step is the creation of a Swedish language version of the
company's Ladbrokes.com site, currently operating in Gibraltar. The company
is getting ready to shift its sportsbetting services back to the United
Kingdom in the near future.
To help promote the new Swedish betting service, Ladbrokes has opened an
office in Sweden, while bringing in Swedish staffers to oversee the
day-to-day content available to bettors at Ladbrokes.com or Ladbrokes.se.
Swedish punters will be able to bet on English and European soccer, as well
as more Nordic-focused sports like ice hockey and local soccer leagues.
The company's second foray into the Scandinavian market is an effort to
obtain a gambling license in Sweden with an unnamed local gambling company.
While it might seem odd that a British e-gambling firm would need another
European gaming license, there's good reasoning behind the move, said
spokesman Andy Clifton.
"The key selling point is that the Swedish state bookmakers (Svenska
Spel) offer relatively poor value/high margins when compared to fixed odds
bookmakers such as Ladbrokes.com," he said. "Both gambling per head and
Internet penetration are relatively high in the Sweden/Nordic region, so we
are keen to grab an increased slice of that market."
He cautions, however, that it might be a while before anything happens on
that front. "In the long term," he said, "we would be interested in opening
a retail presence in Sweden, but at this moment we are in the very early
stages of talking to the Swedish government about it."