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Europe’s leading sports entertainment group, Eurosport, has been awarded a remote gambling licence by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, paving the way for the launch of its EurosportBET sports betting platform during the first half of 2009.

As previously reported by Gaming Intelligence, Eurosport, a subsidiary of leading French television network TF1, has joined forces with investment fund Serendipity to develop a betting platform capable of competing with established sports betting operators in the soon to be liberalised French gambling market.

For now, Eurosport will use the Alderney licence to launch EurosportBET.co.uk in the British market within the coming months, with plans to develop EurosportBET further in European countries where a fully regulated gambling sector exists.

“We believe that Alderney is the home of e-gambling and we are absolutely thrilled to welcome Eurosport to our growing list of licensees,” said Robin Le Prevost, Alderney's Head of E-Commerce Development.

“Their name adds to an already stellar line-up of some of the most prestigious names in the industry. Eurosport-SPS having chosen to base their new online business in Alderney speaks volumes about our regime, capabilities and serious business approach and we are very pleased to have been chosen."

Olivier Ou Ramdane, CEO of SPS, the Eurosport Serendipity joint-venture, welcomed the licence approval as a significant milestone for the company.

“Being granted a full e-gaming licence in Alderney represents a significant step to us as we move forward with our project to launch EurosportBET.co.uk in UK within the first half of 2009,” said Ramdane.

Heather Bowler, Global Communications Director of Eurosport Group, added: “Obtaining the licence to operate in Alderney is the 1st step in building our new pan-European online sports betting platform on solid ground and to offering fans yet another engaging way to enjoy sports.”

The Eurosport Group is the leading sports multimedia platform in Europe, with its pan-European TV channel transmitted in twenty languages spread over 116 million households and 240 million viewers across 59 countries. The Eurosport network of websites is one of Europe's largest online sports destination with up to 9.9 million unique visitors per month, with dedicated sites in France, Poland, Russia, Sweden and China.

(Source: gamingintelligence.com)