PokerStars To Launch Sportsbook In Denmark

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One of the world’s largest online poker sites, PokerStars, has plans on launching its online sportsbook in Denmark at the beginning of 2016. The announcement came after the parent company, Amaya Inc., was given a one-year temporary license by Spillemyndigheden, giving them permission to offer sports-betting services in Denmark. The market in this European country is regulated, but would give them a huge opportunity to expanding into the rest of the continent. Eric Hollreiser, VP of Corporate Communication at Amaya Inc. stated,

“We’re pleased to offer sports betting under a license that ensures local oversight of the industry and allows PokerStars to bring its gaming expertise and high standards of integrity, compliance and security to Danish bettors. This furthers Amaya’s commitment to the responsible growth of online gaming by supporting local regulation that protects players, creates a viable, competitive marketplace and provides revenue for local governments.”

Amaya Inc. was already preparing for this situation, as they have bought several domains to help with this expansion, including BetStars.com, which is the website being used for the standalone sportsbook. Costing them $10,000 for that particular domain, they went ahead and purchased other extensions of the same name, including the .EU, .CO.UK, .DE, and the .IT. This would give them a wide range, but also focuses them in the UK, German, and Italian markets. It is still unknown if the players in Denmark will be able to access the sports betting services through the PokerStars 7 client, or would be accessing it through one of the websites mentioned earlier, or it would be using BetStars.dk, which also appears to be part of Amaya’s portfolio, and could be used to cater directly to the Danish market. It seems the poker giant is expanding its efforts in another lucrative field, sports, and may get their online sportsbook up and running throughout Europe in no time.