The U.K.-based 888 Holdings has partnered with Sports Illustrated to enter the online betting and gaming market by launching SI Sportsbook in Colorado.
By terms of the deal Sports Illustrated will get a 4.99 percent equity stake in the joint venture and 888 will get the exclusive license to use Sports Illustrated branding on its platforms.
Sports Illustrated’s parent company is Authentic Brands Group, whose Chairman and CEO Jamie Salter commented, “Sports wagering represents a large and high-growth market allowing us to diversify the brand’s revenue streams and engage directly with our sports consumers, broadening the reach of the brand.”
The SI Sportsbook is expected to also begin operating in New Jersey, Iowa and Indiana.
Sports Illustrated recently launched a metered paywall and charges for its articles online. Its print edition is only published 17 times a year, when it used to be weekly. Nevertheless the SI Media Group, has more than 42 million users.
888 Senior Vice President Yaniv Sherman, who is in charge of U.S. operations, commented, “Today we know for a fact that the average Sports Illustrated consumer, whether it’s print or online, is also an avid consumer of fantasy and gambling content,” Sherman says. “We know the propensity to bet is much higher than the average media consumer, and we know that they do that with other sports destinations. So what we’d like to do is create a seamless experience where you’ll be consuming sports content, and you’ll be able to consume dedicated betting content that we’ll be producing with the Sports Illustrated team.”
SI Sportsbook will promote in-game betting, which Sherman believes will eventually be more popular than pre-match betting.
