Founder of easyJet takes punt on gambling with launch of EasyBet

Stelios Haji-Ioannou has stamped the Easy brand on everything from aeroplanes to pizza joints, with varying degrees of success.

Now the billionaire entrepreneur is taking a punt on online sports betting, the Guardian has learned, through a partnership with an offshore gambling firm that is on the comeback trail after having its licence suspended in 2020.

EasyBet is a joint-venture with Matchbook, a trading name of Triplebet, which is based on the Channel island of Alderney.

The Guardian understands that Triplebet is owned by Zeljko Ranogajec, an Australian-born multimillionaire who has been described as the world’s most successful gambler and by the nicknames of the “Loch Ness monster”, because he is rarely spotted, and “The Joker”.

The Gambling Commission, which regulates the betting and gaming industry, suspended Triplebet’s gambling licence for six months in 2020 and fined the company £740,000, citing failings on player protection and anti-money laundering controls. Its compliance systems have since been overhauled.

At the time, Triplebet’s majority shareholder is understood to have been Matthew Benham, a gambling entrepreneur who also owns Brentford FC. Benham continues to hold a minority stake in the business.

Triplebet, which Ranogajec owns via an Isle of Man-based entity called Newfoundland Limited, has a “white label” deal with EasyBet.

White labels allow newcomers to the UK betting scene to piggy-back on to the online architecture of a company that already holds a licence to take bets in Great Britain, stamping it with their own branding such as the EasyGroup’s distinctive orange livery.

Matchbook will pay a licence fee to use the Easy branding, echoing similar deals struck by betting firms with Sky, Virgin and the Sun newspaper.

The white label system has frequently been used by overseas firms to obtain a British licence, a requirement for operators that want to advertise on Premier League football shirts.

Haji-Ioannou, who founded the budget airline easyJet in 1995, said investing in betting was “a natural new market to complement our other large consumer brands”.

The tycoon stepped down from the airline’s board in 2010 but remains a shareholder. He licenses out and receives royalties from the “easy” label and has launched more than 100 similarly branded ventures, fiercely defending the commercial use of “easy” against what he calls “brand thieves”.

EasyJet has been by far the most successful of Haji-Ioannou’s ventures, while forays into coffee, convenience stores and dog-walking have proved less lucrative.

The EasyBet website offers only sports betting and wagers on politics, such as who will be the next US president. There are no plans to offer casino games.

EasyGroup said launching a betting brand would help it defend infringement of its copyright by other betting sites that were using the “easy” name.

Ranogajec, who sometimes goes by the name John Wilson, is famous for striking lucrative “rebate” deals with operators of betting pools, where stakes and winnings are shared.

Matchbook’s betting exchange model – like that of Betfair – differs from pool betting.

It allows customers who want to bet on one outcome to be matched up with others who are happy to take the other side of the wager. Associates of Ranogajec are understood to be acting as “market makers”, providing liquidity on the platform.

Malcolm Graham, who became the chief executive of Matchbook in an overhaul of management by Ranogajec, said he was “thrilled that we will be supporting Stelios’ philanthropic activities via the license fees being paid to easyGroup.”