{"id":313190,"date":"2024-03-06T05:39:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T11:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=313190"},"modified":"2024-03-06T10:45:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T16:45:43","slug":"888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/","title":{"rendered":"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Online gambling giant 888 Holdings<\/a> [LON: 888] appears likely to exit the U.S. B2C markets, citing operational costs.<\/p>\n

\"888,
888 CEO Per Widerstr\u00f6m, above, highlighted the difficulty of achieving scale in the fiercely competitive U.S. markets in a filing to the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. (Image: 888)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a filing to the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the group said it will launch a strategic review into its U.S. operations that will explore \u201cpotential alternatives that can deliver value for the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

These could include the sale of 888\u2019s B2C business or a \u201ccontrolled exit\u201d from the U.S., the company said. 888 will remain active in the B2B market in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated Breakup<\/strong><\/h2>\n

888 currently operates in Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, and Virginia, although New Jersey is the only market where it uses the 888 brand name.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, it powers a Sports Illustrated<\/em>-branded betting and gaming platform through its 2021 partnership<\/a> with the Authentic Brands Group, the sports magazine\u2019s parent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

888 said it had mutually agreed to part ways with Authentic Brands Group. It will pay a cash fee of $25 million to break the contract and an additional $25 million between 2027 and 2029.<\/p>\n

“A series of record-breaking months for SI Casino has underscored the strength of the SI brand,\u201d Per Widerstr\u00f6m, CEO of 888, said in a statement Monday. \u201cHowever, despite these successes, we have concluded that achieving sufficient scale in the U.S. market to generate positive returns within an accelerated time frame is unlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Gold Rush\u2019 Disillusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The U.S. markets were seen as a modern-day Gold Rush for U.S. online gambling companies following the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s defanging of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the federal prohibition on sports betting.<\/p>\n

But the fierce competition for customers has proved to be expensive, and new entrants have had to overpay for customer acquisition. Meanwhile, FanDuel\u2019s and DraftKings\u2019 dominance of the market is proving hard to dent.<\/p>\n

Since commencing my role as CEO I have been focused on ensuring the Group is set up to deliver strong value creation in the coming years,\u201d<\/strong> said Widerstr\u00f6m.<\/strong> \u201cIn the U.S., the intensity of competition and requirement for scale means huge investment is required to reach profitability.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The group said its gross profit margin in the U.S. was lower than the group level. This reflected the \u201csignificant direct costs of operating in the market, including duties, market access fees, and license fees,\u201d in addition to intense competition from \u201cwell-capitalized incumbent participants,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online gambling giant 888 Holdings [LON: 888] appears likely to exit the U.S. B2C markets, citing operational costs. In a filing to the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the group said it will launch a strategic review into its U.S. operations that will explore \u201cpotential alternatives that can deliver value for the business.\u201d These could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":313191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,33810,19],"tags":[82116,90118,89531,90119],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"888 preparing to leave the US B2C markets and has ended its branding partnership with Sports Illustrated and Authentic Brands.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"888 preparing to leave the US B2C markets and has ended its branding partnership with Sports Illustrated and Authentic Brands.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-06T11:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-06T16:45:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/\",\"name\":\"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-06T11:39:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-06T16:45:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"888 preparing to leave the US B2C markets and has ended its branding partnership with Sports Illustrated and Authentic Brands.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":580,\"caption\":\"888 CEO Per Widerstr\u00f6m, above, highlighted the difficulty of achieving scale in the fiercely competitive US markets in a filing to London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. (Image: 888)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated","description":"888 preparing to leave the US B2C markets and has ended its branding partnership with Sports Illustrated and Authentic Brands.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated","og_description":"888 preparing to leave the US B2C markets and has ended its branding partnership with Sports Illustrated and Authentic Brands.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-03-06T11:39:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-06T16:45:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":580,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/","name":"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-06T11:39:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-06T16:45:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"888 preparing to leave the US B2C markets and has ended its branding partnership with Sports Illustrated and Authentic Brands.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Per.jpg","width":1000,"height":580,"caption":"888 CEO Per Widerstr\u00f6m, above, highlighted the difficulty of achieving scale in the fiercely competitive US markets in a filing to London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. (Image: 888)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-to-bow-out-of-us-markets-part-ways-with-sports-illustrated\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"888 to Bow Out of US Markets, Part Ways with Sports Illustrated"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313190"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313224,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313190\/revisions\/313224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}