Italy’s online gambling marketplace welcomes a new player as DAZN launches its sportsbook service powered by Bet Class Italia SRL.
The DAZNBet.it brand made its soft-launch debut at the beginning of December “to test and build-up its Italian sportsbook offering for local audiences”.
A key market of DAZN since 2018, the OTT platform has operated its on-demand streaming service, featuring exclusive coverage of all Serie A and UEFA Champions League matches.
A press release notified that Rome-based Bet Class Italia “will run the DAZN Bet service in Italy, as a separate licensed betting company from DAZN, under the leadership of Francesco Mastantuoni”.
Launched with no fanfare and limited media coverage, DAZN and Bet Class provided no information on Italian market ambitions, simply stating that the partnership was seeking to build a ‘recreational and safe offer’ for Italian customers.
“The launch of DAZN Bet in Italy is the start of an exciting journey for a new sports betting & gaming product in Italy.” – Commented Francesco Mastantuoni, who serves as Italy MD of DAZN Bet.
“Our goal is to provide sports fans with a fantastic safe & recreational sports betting product for the sports fans’ community. It is a journey we want to make together in Italy, as we are in other global markets and we begin it in Italy now.”
2022 has seen DAZN launch its sportsbook platform in the UK, followed by Spain, yet company leadership remains tight-lipped on further market launches.
Speaking at September’s SBC Summit Barcelona, DAZN CEO Shay Segev outlined the importance of sports betting for DAZN to become the “single destination point for digital audiences to engage with sports”.
Though important to DAZN’s growth plans and tech strategy, Segev underscored that sports betting was simply “a further enabler” to build its full-service platform which aims to cater for all engagements with sports, be it on-demand streaming, ticketing, sports betting and NFT purchases, dependent on the regulatory approval of individual marketplaces.
Segev noted, “We will use betting simply as an enabler of our portfolio. DAZN has been built to be a sports destination platform and we don’t see sports betting as a destination in itself; that will always be sports”.
Source: SBC News
