The Magnificent Rise of 888 Holdings: A Giant of the Gaming Industry

Pop quiz: what growing UK industry entertains more than half of Brits on a regular basis, is incredibly diverse in its offerings, and makes over £14 billion a year?

If you guessed gambling and casino gaming, you're right!

As with any large industry, there are both small businesses and huge behemoths in gambling. However, none of these behemoths are as large as 888 Holdings, which has the entire industry in the palm of its hand.

Sounds interesting, right?

Today, we're going to talk a little about 888 Holdings and why it's so successful within the gaming industry. This journey will take us back through to decades and to many, many nations around the world, so get excited and read on for some information, stats, and fun facts about 888- the lone titan of gambling! 

What Is 888 Holdings?

888 Holdings is a company that has a long, rich history of success. It does a lot of things for many different clients and has evolved into a gambling behemoth as the years have gone by. In this section, we're going to take a look at what exactly 888 Holdings is as well as how it's gotten to be that way. Read on for some basic information of a gaming goliath that's sure to blow you away!

The Basics

Before looking into its history, it's important to get a clear picture of what 888 Holdings is today.

Sometimes colloquially referred to as simply '888,' 888 Holdings PLC is a public company that owns several of the largest gambling brands and websites in the world. The main brands that it owns are 888casino, 888poker, 888sport, and various bingo brands that it's bought out. As you can see, it's a very versatile company that's known for having a foot in all sorts of betting arenas!

The conglomerate is currently based in Gibraltar, an overseas territory of the UK that's at the tip of the Iberian peninsula. The CRO is Itai Pazner, who continues to grow the company at an incredible rate.

As of last year, they employ 1,350 employees and make about 900,000 GBP annually. These figures make it clear that even the in-house operations of this business are fairly large-scale!

Much of the work that 888 does, however, is online. Anyone in the world can access the gaming platforms that they own from the internet. Therefore, the company has even more remote workers than are listed as being in-house workers. Their reach extends all around the world since anyone with internet access can play their games!

Humble Beginnings

However, 888 Holdings was not always the gambling goliath that it is today.

In fact, when it was founded in 1997 on the British Virgin Islands, it had very small reach. It was coined 'Virtual Holdings Limited' and based all of its gaming servers, management, and support staff in Antigua. This was the location in which it had a gaming license, so the founders Avi Shaked, Aaron Shaked, Shay Ben-Yitzhak, Ron Ben-Yitzhak decided to open up shop there.

At first, Virtual Holdings Limited only had one product, known as Casino-on-Net. This was one of the first online casinos to exist, so everyone loved the idea. This allowed the growing company to become even larger, launching its second and third casino products in 2002. It eventually expanded into Gilbraltar, where it's now based, when it got a gaming license in 2003.

History and Timeline

Those were the beginnings of 888 Holdings. Over time, it developed into a name that's well-known internationally. There were a lot of steps in that process, though, so we've taken the liberty to put together a timeline of the main for you:

1997 - Virtual Holdings Limited was founded, as we discuss above.

2002- Virtual Holdings Limited expanded to include two new products, Reef Club Casino and its 888.com brand and poker room.

2003- 888 got a gaming license in Gibraltar. The team in Antigua packed up and moved all its operations there, taking ith them the gaming servers and member support staff. After moving, they had a better place to launch new sites, and so they took it upon themselves to update Casino-on-Net.com and launch v7 of it.

2005- 888 was listed on the London Stock Exchange main market.

2007- 888 made its first acquisition out of Globalcom Limited's Bingo services.

After making this first acquisition, 888 just kept them coming. It made agreements with Caesars Interactive, WSOP, and Kambi Sport Solutions. Some of these were acquisitions, and others were partnerships. 888 made these deals while getting gaming licenses in various nations around the world such as Italy (2011), Spain (2012), and Denmark (2015).

Types of Betting at 888

Now that you know what 888 Holdings is and a general timeline of its history, it's time to look into the types of betting that you can take part in when you go to 888.com. Here, we're going to look into some of the gaming categories that this company has so that you can find one that you're excited to try out!

888casino

Remember Casino-on-Net from the previous sections of the article?

Well, 888casino is what grew from that.

This is the main online gambling site that 888 Holdings has to offer. It's the general blanket term for the brand that constitutes the internet's oldest casino. All of the games that you can play as a result of 888's offering them fall under the '888casino' category.

888casino has won various gambling awards over the years. Most recently, in 2015, it won the Best Casino Operator award from Gaming Intelligence.

888poker

Having launched in 2002, 888poker is the online poker room that 888casinos offers.

888poker is an international online poker cardroom that's owned by 888 Holdings. It was established in 2002, making it the first subsection of 888 to come into being (after the broader 888casinos.) Operations for this poker room have expanded out from Gibraltar and the UK. It can currently be accessed in the US, Denmark, and Spain, among other European countries.

There are a few types of poker offered by 888poker. The first one, mobile poker, is exactly what it sounds like- a mobile app that launched in 2013 where you can go and make wagers. There also is a more exclusive 888poker club that you can join, which features daily tournaments that you can play against others. By joining this exclusive club, you get the chance to win $100,000 each month in addition to being given scratch tickets for every five poker levels you move up.

It's also interesting to note that professional poker players and celebrities play on a team called the '888poker team.' This group of prominent people act as brand ambassadors that give 888poker more visibility than it already has. Some notable players on this team are Kara Scott, Chris Moorman, and Luis Suarez.

888sport

888sport is the sports betting brand that 888 Holdings owns. Launched in 2008, it offers a multitude of services including betting on horse races and betting on other sports. Sports that you can bet on here include football, rugby, and racing, among many more.

As with 888poker, 888sport has a partnership with a famous individual to draw others in. Santiago Cañizares joined the game room in 2011 as the brand ambassador of Europe. After that, Ian Wright and Emma Spencer of England joined in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Another fun fact is that 888sport is the first non-US-operated gambling companies to operate online in America. This began in 2013 when the Nevada Gaming Commission gave them a license to do so. Now, in addition to people in Europe, those across the pond can also enjoy sports betting on players from all around the world!

Bingo Partners

In the history and timeline, we already talked a bit about how 888 bought out various bingo services. 888 Holdings now operates many different online bingo sites, including:

➀ Wink Bingo

➁ Posh Bingo

➂ Tasty Bingo

➃ Redbus Bingo from Daub

➄ Globalcom

The official name for 888's bingo room is 888ladies. This space offers 90-ball and 75-ball bingo as well as 5-line bingo games. You can also play scratch cards and instant casino games on this website.

Furthermore, there's a mobile app for iPhone and Android that can access the online bingo rooms. The app is known for having a lot of competitions frequently, so you'll b able to play to your heart's content when you download it!

What's In a Brand?

Just as important as services to any company is the growth of their brand. 888 Holdings definitely has a recognisable brand that has grown and grown as time has gone by. Read on to take a look at the 888 logo's development and marketing strategies that they've been successful at using. These branding strategies have lifted them high up in the stock market and gotten them a huge amount of revenue!

The 888 Logo(s)

The current logo for 888 Holdings features the numbers '888' beside a couple of pairs of dice. This is the logo for the main 888casinos site as well as 888.com.

Additionally, 888 utilises the brands of the companies that it buys out. Rather than changing the logos of these casinos, it simply purchases them along with the rest of the brand. This means that the rights to the image also belong to 888 in addition to the company's services.

Marketing and Ads

888 is pretty famous in the eyes of the media. They projected the Wink Bingo logo (a company they own) onto the houses of parliament a few years back. Not only did this publicise them to all who passed by, but it also associated their brand with big British systems like the federal government.

Since then, 888 affiliates have also been on many different TV shows and movies. Their logo is placed in content that they sponsor, much like other companies that pay for adverts to be posted. The competitions that they run have been covered in news sources like the Reading Chronicle, too, so people everywhere know their brand.

Additionally, 888 invests in all the usual online marketing services that companies use. They have social media pages that they use to convey information to followers and make use of targeted adverts online. This allows them to reach out to their target audience and make their name even bigger.

What Does the Future of 888 Holdings Look Like?

On the stock market, 888 Holdings is labeled LON:888.

Stocks are currently down for this company, but they're certain to begin rising again within the next few months. UK gambling operators are currently under a lot of pressure with a credit card ban, so this is likely impacting their shares at present (as well as the uncertain economic climate surrounding coronavirus).

So, what's going to happen with 888 Holdings in the coming years?

Well, it looks as though it's only going to continue to expand. As with many companies, 888 makes use of debt, but it never has so much that it hurts the company or inhibits growth. Currently, 888 has about £31.07 million in debt, but it's projected to stay on top of any and all debt it has. This means that it's still a good investment for shareholders.

888 is looking to expand to other nations throughout the world as well. However, its energies are currently on expanding to other US states that it isn't currently licensed to operate in.

Give Them a Try Today

There are a lot of large gambling companies in the world, but none are so great as 888 is. That's why it's interesting to take a deeper look into what this amazing gaming corporation is like- it gives you some insight into the way that the industry as a whole works and what it takes to be successful in it.

Now that you know all about the operations, history, and brand of 888 Holdings, it's time to begin playing your favourite games online. Head to 888 Casino review to learn more about it and try out some of their free games.