>E G R A W A R D S
F E A T U R E 2012
THE BIGGEST & BEST YET
JIMMY CARR
8 out of 10 Cats presenter Carr hosted the event
ritish gaming business Sky Betting & Gaming became the newly crowned eGaming Review Operator of the Year at this year’s prestigious awards, the ?rst time the company has won the blue riband prize in the ceremony’s eightyear history. In a night of high drama, SkyBet beat bet365, 888 and William Hill Online to the biggest industry prize in online gambling, with comedian Jimmy Carr handing the trophy to the SkyBet team, with the majority of them running up on stage to collect the prize. The 10-year-old ?rm, owned by parent company BSkyB, has seen phenomenal 20%-plus growth in the last four years, with 2012 yet another stellar 12 months for the operator. SkyBet has become one of the fastest growing gaming companies in the industry, breaking into the top 10 of this year’s annual eGR Power 50 list for the ?rst time and beating previous operator of the year winners bet365 (2010), William Hill (2011) and fellow nominees 888 to clinch the 2012 trophy. The UK-focused operator saw its revenue increase by 43% in the 12 months to the end of June 2012 to £113m, active unique users double to more than one million, and posted a sizeable pro?t in 2012, up by more than 50% on the same period last year. Richard Flint, MD of Sky Betting & Gaming, told eGR that doing the basics well contributed to it becoming the “fastest growing major operator in the UK”. “We’ve done the basics well – everything from an easy to use site, great pricing, a great range of markets and games, good customer care, the television advertising has paid off in a big way and been very successful, while the focus on mobile has also been a key factor in our more recent success. We’ve also got better at working with and integrating SkyBet into Sky,” he said. Flint admitted that the industry may have been “mildly surprised” to hear SkyBet had beaten arguably more highpro?le companies, but a “strong, sustained effort over the last ?ve years and in particular the last two years has seen growth accelerate”, he added. “Because we are part of a large Plc, we have been below the radar and only well informed people within the industry have known about us. We’re also not as high pro?le as
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