Mark Blandford – Sportsbook.com Founder

Last Updated: June 2, 2010 – See comments for changes.

Owners of Sportsbook.com

Sportsbook.com has been part of the global sportsbetting scene for over a decade and set a number of important trends in the market. The site has taken over ten million wagers since it first launched in 1998 and has seen its business peak to tremendous heights and then dip to all time lows during the UIGEA crisis. Today, Sportsbook.com is seen as a solid sportsbetting operation, serving the world gaming community.

Sportsbook was one of the first online gambling sites to launch a betting trends feature, showing the bets being placed on specific sports in real time. The site was also a pioneer in providing players the best odds of winning dealer games by giving players them the option of switching dealers or tables anytime they wanted.

Original Owners of Sportsbook.com

Sportsbook.com was originally a private operation owned by Patrick C. et al. The software was ran by World Gaming plc, (formerly “Starnet”). Sportingbet purchased Sportsbook.com in 2001. Sportingbet, is a network that includes popular sites such as Hollywood Sportsbook, Sports.com and AllStar.com.

Sportingbet is a London Stock Exchange trading company that was founded by Mark Blandford. Blandford was considered one of the pioneers in the sportsbetting industry who saw the huge potential for this type of service based on many years experience as a traditional land based casino owner.

After selling his successful casinos to Tote Bookmakers in 1997, Blandford switched to the idea of launching an online operation and launched Sportingbet a year later. The company was floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) at the beginning of 2001.

Blandford was rewarded for his visionary thinking as Sportingbet went on to become one of the most successful operations in the world. Blandford himself was voted as the AIM Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 and went on to lead the company through many ups and downs. He served as chairman and chief executive office of the company before stepping down to pursue a career as a venture capital investor in 2006. Blandford is said to have invested in several top companies, including mobile gaming service provider, mfuse.

Sportsbook.com Bought by Jazette Enterprises

With the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (Safe Port Act) by the Bush government in 2006, Sportingbet Plc sold all its US facing sportsbetting services to Jazette Enterprises Limited for $1. The company justified this symbolic sum by saying that if it had been sold at net value, including deficits, the losses would have run into millions.

The privately owned Jazette Enterprises is now known as Jassy Sports Events Limited and has its headquarters in Malta.

Under the terms of the sale contract, Jazette Enteprises said that it would preserve the operational structure of the US facing group as much as possible, and try to continue the employment of over 500 people who formed part of the operation prior to the take over.

Jassy Sports also owns online sports books, Superbook and PlayersOnly. The poker operations originially operated on the Cake Network but in April 2010 they began running off the Merge Platform.

Sportsbook.com is fully licensed by the Government of the Netherlands Antilles on the island of Curacao.