A Risky Business Move or A Genuis Manouvre – EasyBet Is Here
EasyJet, one of the world’s top budget airlines, has launched a new sports betting site in the UK. Some consider this a natural move, given that many other companies have done the same over the years. The current favourable gambling landscape is also worth considering.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou Sets His Sights on New Horizons
Leading budget airline EasyJet has announced it is launching a new sports betting site. EasyBet has joined forces with the peer-to-peer betting exchange Matchbook for the venture, the first time the company has entered the gambling industry.
The ‘Easy’ brand name has already been used on a wide range of businesses, from hotel chains and coffee shops to dog-walking firms and convenience stores.
Founder of the company, entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, believes sports betting is a good fit for the business.
“We are delighted to welcome easyBet.net to the ‘easy’ family of brands which is a natural new market to complement our other large consumer brands in the UK and Ireland”, he said.
“Launched at the beginning of October 2024, easyBet offers peer-to-peer betting with the aim of giving customers fairer odds than traditional bookmakers.”
“It allows you to bet on sports events – you can back what you think will win or lay what you think will lose. We believe this model offers fairer odds to the consumer.”
Quality And Value
Matchbook’s partnership with the company to create the EasyBet brand lends it an air of legitimacy, with a white-label system used to set up the sports betting site.
This means it is built on an existing back-end platform with EasyBet branding laid over the top, similar to how other UK household names like Virgin, Sky and The Sun newspaper have entered the betting arena.
Chief executive of Matchbook, Malcolm Graham, said the company is “delighted” to be teaming up with the easyGroup.
He also said: “The ‘easy’ brand is renowned for consistently supplying quality and value to its customers. easyBet.net offers its customers industry-leading odds across a wide range of sports and geographic markets, offering a top-tier user experience. We are also thrilled that we will be supporting Stelios’ philanthropic activities via the licence fees being paid to easyGroup.”
Strategic Brand Extension
A statement from EasyGroup also pointed out the company has regularly had to take steps to protect its branding due to other sports betting businesses using the ‘easy’ moniker.
It was said: “EasyBet is a strategic brand extension with its name being just one letter apart from easyJet. easyGroup has historically had to pursue several infringement cases that have seen brand thieves use the ‘easy’ name in the sports betting industry.”
Matchbook, the partner of EasyBet, is a trading name of Triplebet, of which gambling entrepreneur and Brentford FC owner Matthew Benham is a minority shareholder.
Triplebet previously had its UK gambling licence suspended for six months in 2020, with the Gambling Commission citing failings in player protection and anti-money laundering.
