"As part of our mission to make the AOL UK. portal the premier online destination for Web users and advertisers alike, we are looking at a range of partnerships and initiatives to drive our business forward in Europe,"
The above quote was made by Michael Stickler, the VP of America On-Line’s Interactive Marketing division in Europe. And moving business forward in Europe is exactly what AOL is doing, more specifically with their AOL.co.uk site.
The portal, that offers Internet users a number of information, entertainment and shopping services via their world-wide sites, has recently announced that they will enter into the UK’s growing online betting market with a real money horse racing and sports betting service.
AOL has approached the future success of this new venture by forming a partnership with the German software designer FLUXX. "Linking up with FLUXX fits that strategy perfectly. Their wealth of ideas and experience in the betting business will bring additional energy and diversity to our offering both here in the U.K. and across other European countries." Continues Stickler.
Even though AOL isn’t the first of the major Internet brands to tap into the UK betting market (earlier this year Yahoo introduced a real money poker service to their British site), Rainer Jacken, a spokesman from FLUXX feels there is a lot of opportunity in this particular market.
"The British market is one of the largest and most attractive in the world with a betting volume of around €70 billion, yet the online market is still notably underdeveloped. Together with AOL, we have now created a highly competitive service that will help us to tap into this growth." States Jacken.
