Arthur's Column

Some two and a half years ago I was, to be honest, nervous when Bwin-Party announced that their then newly acquired social subsidiary Win would be releasing a social sports betting product.  Social sports betting was, after all, the main game of 2BET2 – my sports apps business.

Roll on a few years and (more than a year later than predicted) they roll out sportster on Facebook.  Now – let’s gloss over the first obvious fact – that they purloined our tagline for their name.  We used the word Sportster from day one. Now I know its just an english word, but really – could they not have been more original?

The product is OK.  Its a flash based game and covers football.  That’s football in the European sense of the word – don’t go here expecting any sports from the American side of the pond – they don’t exist.  So be it.  Bet types are fairly simple although perhaps they get better as you progress through the game.  So far – nothing game changing.

Compare European football with the selection of coverage from 2BET2 and you get an idea of what you are missing on Bwin’s effort.


When Bwin partnered with Nordeus I was anticipating something more in line with Nordeus’s market leading fantasy sports products but it seems this was not to be.  Honestly I think that was a mistake on their part – there has to be space in the market for a more fantasy/betting blended game.

Another feature which they copied invented? was the addition of virtual sports based on real world events and odds with a “proprietary result prediction engine”.  Quite frankly an exact copy of the 2BET2 Turbo Bet option.  Yes – we take real world events and odds, schedule the events for the next few minutes, and randomise the results.

Really the only difference between the Bwin/Sportster version of virtual events and 2BET2 Turbo Bet is the name, and the broader selection of sports available on 2BET2.


I wish BWin-Party all the best with their product.  They presumably have budget to promote it and no doubt will get some traction.  God knows they need it to work – their core gambling games have been declining over the past few years.

Meanwhile we here at 2BET2 headquarters are working on the next iteration of 2BET2.  Expect something different.  Something game changing.  Something that BWin Party will take longer than 2 years to copy.  We are currently in the early development and fund raise stage for the new initiative – it’s going to be huge and that takes money – but it promises to be sensational!

Until then – adios!

2BET2 Sports Apps – the future of social sports