Shortlist announced for this year’s SBC Awards

Wednesday 18th of October 2017

Bet365 is facing fierce competition to retain its Bookmaker of the Year title at this year’s SBC Awards, after the shortlists were announced for the sports betting industry’s annual end of year celebration on Tuesday December 5.

The awards will be hosted by former Sky Sports presenter Matt Lorenzo and Luis Garcia, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005, which will be held at The Artillery Garden in London.

Vying with the Stoke-based bookmaker for the ceremony’s key award will be Sky Bet, William Hill, Unibet, Pinnacle, Betsafe and 10bet.

Meanwhile the Affiliate of the Year will come from Better Collective, Catena Media, Livesport Media, Raketech, Easyodds, Check’d Media, OLBG or Gambling.com Group.

The most competitive categories are the two Rising Star awards. Competing for the operator award of Rising Star in Sports Betting will be Argyll Entertainment, Bookee, LV Bet, Betster, Coolbet, Mr Green, Betstars, 1Xbet, Adjarabet and LeoVegas Sports.

On the supplier side, the winner of the Rising Star in Sports Betting Innovation will come from this group: Digital Sports Tech; Qubit; BtoBet; Statscore; Algosport; Delasport; TCM Inplay and Bettorlogic.

Sportradar and Golden Race have each been shortlisted five times, while Unibet, BetBright, Pinnacle, Racing Post, OPTIMA and bet365 are in the running for four of the awards designed to recognize excellence across the sector.

Meanwhile, the list of companies fighting on three fronts includes William Hill, LeoVegas, Betgenius, InBet Games, BetConstruct, Mr Green, SBTech, EveryMatrix, BtoBet, SIS and Sky Bet, which will be defending its Football Bookmaker of the Year title.

SBC managing director Andrew McCarron commented: “It’s been another great year for the sports betting industry, as emphasised by the wide range of prize contenders across 28 categories. The nominations were numerous and the quality high. It’s going to be extremely tough for our judges to pick out the winners.”

Meanwhile, in addition to announcing the 28 award winners, Garcia and Lorenzo will also be recognising those who have made a lasting contribution to the industry. Three new members will be inducted into the SBC Sports Betting Hall of Fame to join Sportradar’s Carsten Koerl, FSB Technology’s Mark Blandford and Howard Chisholm, the long-term managing director at Chisholm Bookmakers.

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