The holdings company easyGroup Ltd, known for its numerous ventures such as easyJet, expanded its brand portfolio by launching its fresh sports betting brand aptly called easyBet. The private investment fund, led by billionaire entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, announced its partnership with offshore gambling firm Matchbook. Matchbook is a trading name of Triplebet based on the Channel Island of Alderney. The peer-to-peer betting exchange will operate easyBet under the United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission license (UKGC) of Triplebet Limited.

Compliance and regulatory upgrade

Triplebet, primarily owned by Australian gambling magnate Zeljko Ranogajec, saw its gambling licence suspended for six months in 2020 by the Gambling Commission, which regulates the betting and gaming industry. The company was also fined £740,000. The Gambling Commission cited flaws with player protection and anti-money laundering controls. Triplebet’s compliance system has since been overhauled. This upgrade in compliance and regulatory systems is expected to provide a strong foundation for easyBet by providing a first-rate betting environment focusing on transparency and customer satisfaction.

Copywrite infringements

easyGroup asserted that this is the first of its ‘easy’ brands in the sports betting industry. This move serves to protect and enhance the ‘easy’ brand in a sector where it has previously been misused. Establishing a legitimate and official presence in the industry is expected to deter potential infringements and safeguard the brand’s integrity. The company also claimed to have pursued several infringement cases where “brand thieves use the ‘easy’ name in the sports betting industry.” easyGroup states that the launch of easyBet.net will assure customers of a legitimate member of the easy family and a trusted ‘easy’ brand and prevent further brand infringement in this sector. easyGroup is following most of the other big UK consumer-facing brands that have expanded in this sector, such as Virgin, Sky, The Sun newspaper, and Ryanair.

easyBet October launch into easyGroup

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou commented on the launch in the official press release, saying, “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. Launched at the beginning of October 2024, easyBet offers peer-to-peer betting with the aim of giving customers fairer odds than traditional bookmakers.”

CEO of matchbook Malcolm Graham expressed his views and delight on the partnership stating “Matchbook is delighted to be partnering with the EasyGroup to offer its betting exchange product. 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 license fees being paid to EasyGroup.” 

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