betandwin and Columbia Exchange Systems Ltd. form Joint Venture to enter betting exchange market

Co-CEO betandwin announced today its plan to launch a European betting exchange (“Ebexx”), together with Columbia Exchange Systems Ltd. (‘CES’), the leading global developer of Person-to-Person (P2P) exchange wagering technology. The new venture will exploit an enormous potential market for exchange wagering in Europe.

Exchange wagering is one of the fastest growing segments in the online gaming history. Called “the Internet at its most efficient” by industry analysts, it differs from conventional sports betting in that the exchange merely facilitates customers’ betting with one another.

The new venture underscores betandwin’s commitment to its growth strategy, based on the development of new distribution models, regional expansion, and product innovation. For CES, it is further testimony to their market leadership in the exchange technology sector. Ebexx management is currently selecting among certain strategic premier private equity partners to join in the Ebexx joint venture.

„We are thrilled to pursue the European market with betandwin,” said Lorne Abony, co-founder and CEO of CES. “As the clear industry leader in Continental Europe, betandwin is the best possible partner for CES. Moreover, this new venture significantly expands our global reach, and brings us closer to realizing our corporate goal of building the infrastructure for a truly global wagering exchange, composed solely of top-tier wagering operators such as betandwin. Our unique person to person exchange offering – which enables multiple operators to share a single, scalable platform for enhanced liquidity – is increasingly becoming recognized as the industry standard.“

„We believe that this new venture into the high growth sector of exchange wagering has the potential to generate significant returns for betandwin,“ said Manfred Bodner, Co-Chief Executive Officer of betandwin, „and we are pleased to be partnering with CES as we pursue this attractive new business opportunity. CES and its founders have a proven track record of delivering innovative technology focused on results. Given our license base, market liquidity and regional know-how, and CES’s leading edge technology, the new venture will have all the essential elements required to achieve market dominance in Europe. We look forward to introducing this exciting and rapidly growing form of wagering to the Continental European market.“

About Columbia Exchange Systems Ltd: CES is a UK based exchange wagering technology developer, powering a global betting exchange comprised of licensed operators. CES was co-founded by Andrew Rivkin, founder, past President and CEO of Cryptologic (NASD:CRYP/TSX:CRY), the market leader in online casino solutions, and Lorne Abony, former President of Petopia.com.

For more information on CES, please contact James Lanthier at 00 416 260 4410.