Betsson named EGR Casino Operator of the Year

Congratulations to Betsson – named EGR ‘Casino Operator of the Year’ for 2012.

This EGR Awards (think Oscars of European online gambling) took place on 26 November in the Roundhouse, London and judging by the post-event media shots it looks like it was quite the glitzy event. Jimmy Carr hosted and also managed to pop up in every category winner photo with a stupid look on his face.

Like the Oscars, this event has many award categories. Also like the Oscars, some categories are more prestigious than others.

‘Casino Operator of the Year’ is probably the equivalent of Best Picture. It’s the big one so Betsson are understandably chuffed to have won the award.

Does it mean they were the best online casino in 2012? Probably no more than Chicago was the Best Picture in 2002 – these are human judged awards with an element of subjectivity and no doubt some politics involved in the decision making.

That being said, it has been a heck of a year for Betsson – two multi-million euro jackpot payouts (Hall of Gods €7.3 mil, Mega Fortune €3.1 mil) on the top of their Guinness World Record €11.7 mil payout in September last year; continued expansion of their live games offering with Evolution Gaming; and according to the EGR judging panel ‘a hugely impressive mobile offering’.

The judges this year included various industry authorities, senior managers from a few nominated operators, industry analysts, as well as a director from the Hong Kong Jockey Club and interestingly, the Senior Industry Manager of eGaming from Google (Fintan Costello). Love to know what Finton’s job description is!

Other winners that we’re familiar with included William Hill (‘Sports Betting Operator of the Year’ & ‘Slots Operator of the Year’),  bet365 (‘In-play Sports Operator of the Year’), Paddy Power (‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ & ‘Social Marketing Campaign of the Year’), 888 (‘Poker Operator of the Year’).