Bet365 Withdraws from Chinese Sports Betting Market

UK-Based Operator Shifts Focus to Legal Markets Like the US and Brazil

Global online sportsbook Bet365 will officially halt betting services for Chinese customers on Thursday, March 27, as the company shifts its focus toward expansion in regulated markets, including the United States and Brazil.

In a March 19 statement sent via email to its Chinese customers, the UK-based firm announced its decision, stating that it would now concentrate on “core markets [and] regions that provide long-term sustainable revenue.”

Bet365’s Complicated History in China

Founded in 2001, Bet365 has long occupied a legal grey area in China, where gambling is strictly prohibited, with the exception of two special administrative regions (SARs): Macau and Hong Kong.

Despite China’s stringent restrictions, a 2024 Financial Times report described the country as a “cash machine” for Bet365, which is owned and operated by Denise Coates and her family. As UK sports betting reached saturation, the company reportedly sought opportunities in unregulated markets.

By 2014, according to data from Regulus Partners, China “was probably Bet365’s second largest market behind the UK”, although at the time, it accounted for less than 20% of the company’s total revenue.

“Mirror Sites” Used to Evade Censorship

Bet365 has been a major player in what Business Insider referred to in 2022 as China’s “shadowy world of online gambling”. Like other international betting firms, Bet365 used “mirror sites”—websites operated by subsidiary companies—to avoid detection and censorship by Chinese authorities.

These mirror sites allowed Bet365 to continue operating despite government crackdowns. As soon as authorities discovered and blocked a website, a new one would emerge in its place. Ben Lee, managing partner at IGamiX Management and Consulting in Macau, likened it to “a game of whack-a-mole.”

However, Bet365 has repeatedly denied that its operations in China violated any laws or put consumers at risk.

In 2020, a company representative told the Telegraph that “there is no legislation which expressly prohibits the supply of remote gambling by offshore operators into China. In the view of Bet365 and its lawyers, Chinese law does not extend to the provision of services into China by offshore gambling operators.”

Shifting Toward Legal and Regulated Markets

As Bet365 exits China, the company is directing its efforts toward regulated markets, including Brazil, which officially launched its legal online sports betting market on January 1.

The company will face stiff competition from global betting giants such as Entain, MGM, Flutter, and Stake. However, Eilers & Krejcik analyst Alun Bowden told Covers that Denise Coates is really “gunning for US market share” and prioritizing expansion in the United States.

Currently, Bet365 operates in 13 US states and continues to grow. The company recently launched in Illinois, aligning its entry with March Madness, and has plans to debut in Missouri this fall.

Additionally, on March 24, Bet365 signed a partnership deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, making it the team’s first official mobile sports betting partner.

Analysts: Exiting China Was a Logical Decision

According to analysts at Regulus Partners, China was “Bet365’s last material ‘dark grey’ market”, and its withdrawal now leaves the company with “a domestically regulated mix of over 90%”, especially with Brazil’s recent licensing regulations.

Given China’s ongoing crackdown on illegal gambling, where even its citizens are prohibited from gambling in legal casinos abroad, many industry experts believe the country is simply too risky and difficult to operate in.

Regulus analysts noted that Bet365’s decision was driven by “deliberate declining operational focus on China, increasingly effective state disruption, and growth elsewhere”. They added that, “as a controversial and increasingly difficult market to operate in, China has therefore become relatively easy for Bet365 to exit.” 

By fLEXI tEAM