888 plans US market exit despite sports betting expansion
The large gaming corporation 888, which also owns William Hill and other well-known brands, intends to exit the US market.
This decision is made in spite of the fact that sports gambling is becoming legal in more places throughout the US and that major sports leagues are forming partnerships with businesses like as DraftKings and FanDuel.
888 has decided to terminate its association with Authentic Brands Group, the owner of the Sports Illustrated ‘SI’ brand, and cease running SI Sportsbook, a website located in the United States. They will provide twenty-five million dollars to ABG in order to terminate the contract, and another twenty-five dollars million in 2027 and 2029.
The reason for 888’s choice is that US market revenues are smaller than those of the other markets. This is a result of the high cost of operations in the US, including taxes, tariffs, and fierce rivalry from other large corporations.
According to Per Widerström, the chief executive officer of 888, competing in the marketplace in the United States is difficult and requires significant expenditures in order to be successful. The influence of the SI brand has been shown by a string of an unprecedented months for SI Casino. Nevertheless, in spite of these achievements, they have come to the conclusion that it is unlikely to acquire enough scale in the US market to produce profitable returns in a shorter amount of time.
Selling or a phased withdrawal from the market will be among the all potential options that can generate value for the business that the company would consider in its strategic assessment of its American company to consumer operations.
The organization will continue to operate in the US B2B sector.