The Growth Behind the World’s Biggest iGaming Brands

The iGaming industry might not be the biggest or the fastest growing, but it’s certainly one that has seen some of the most innovations. Before iGaming existed in its current form, there were only brick-and-mortar casinos, in-person sports betting, and early internet gambling with Flash interfaces. We were usually cautious when entering our credit card details for online gambling activities, the legality of which was murky, but many of us did it anyway for the sake of convenience.

It’s safe to say that we’ve come a long way from that risky, unregulated environment into a full-throttle, multi-billion-dollar sector with strictly defined regulations and legal frameworks. Many of these brands can be found among the top online casinos on BonusFinder—you can read the full list here—but how have these behemoths in the iGaming industry become what they are today? Let’s find out.

Bet365

Although Bet365 has been around since the turn of the millennium, the British company has been in the spotlight lately due to the sports betting boom. Quite fittingly, Bet365 was founded as a sports betting company in a portable building by the now-billionaire Denise Coates. She purchased the Bet365 domain and developed a sports betting platform that would later become the shirt sponsor of the EFL team Stoke City.

From there, the company continued to grow, launching offices in Bulgaria, Malta, Australia, and other locations. It has taken full advantage of the growing developments in online gambling law, immediately launching its platform in the United States once the US Supreme Court allowed states to regulate the activity. Since 2016, it’s been one of the largest online gambling brands in the world.

PokerStars

PokerStars is a massively important company to both the iGaming sphere and the game of poker. Launching in 2001, it quickly became one of the most influential poker sites online because of its user-friendliness, innovative features, and the availability of high-profile tournaments. It perfectly complemented the online poker boom and even produced one of the most significant World Series of Poker champions, Chris Moneymaker, from one of its online satellite tournaments. His win is said to be revolutionary, considering he became the first world champion to qualify for the tournament through an online poker site.

As the company developed, PokerStars acquired a variety of licenses in different regulated markets to expand its reach and establish itself as a regulated and trusted entity. It also continued to hold large online tournaments and evolve with the times, whether it was launching a downloadable mobile client or partnering with lucrative companies.

DraftKings

As of the start of 2024, DraftKings is the most popular sports betting platform in the United States. Long before this success, the platform had humble beginnings as a one-on-one baseball competition product in 2012, launched for the MLB’s opening day. A year later, the MLB saw its potential and became the first professional American sports league to invest in daily fantasy sports (DFS). People flocked to the app, and it had tens of thousands of active daily users.

The company continued to gain traction, raking in $41 million in funding in 2014. That same year, DraftKings became the official DFS service of the NHL. Deals and funding kept coming in left, right, and center. So, once sports betting was legalized in the US, it was only natural that DraftKings expanded into sports betting.

FanDuel

Coming in second on the top sports betting platforms in the US is FanDuel, which also got its start as a fantasy sports provider. It was a direct competitor to DraftKings, having been founded a few years before in 2009. The first FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship was held in 2010, establishing FanDuel as a frontrunner in fantasy sports. Then, over three years, it gained funding of $11 million, $70 million, and $275 million, valuing the company at over a billion dollars in 2015.

The company stakeholders strategized to their advantage, hiring most of the employees who were laid off by Zynga 365 Sports, acquiring a sports analytics company, and developing a top-tier mobile app. The app offers a sportsbook, fantasy sports, and an online casino in one app experience, consistently revitalizing the betting experience with promos, incentives, boosts, and other engaging features.

BetMGM

BetMGM is an online gambling and sports betting project between MGM Resorts International and Entain Holdings—two of the biggest and most well-known companies in iGaming. While Entain excels at creating gambling products, MGM Resorts International is an expert in creating gambling experiences around the world. Thus, it was a natural fit for the two to join forces.

When BetMGM was brought to life, it offered several products, including Borgata Online, BetMGM, Party Poker, and Party Casino. The team has invested heavily in marketing campaigns featuring athletes and celebrities and has partnered with major sports leagues, including the MLB, NBA, and NFL. The partnership can capitalize on the MGM brand recognition and following using its brick-and-mortar casinos as a way to promote the digital app.

Playtech

Playtech is a slightly different type of company, as it provides software for online casinos and online sports betting. Entrepreneur Teddy Sagi effectively collaborated with experts in the software engineering, casino, and multimedia sectors and launched its first casino product in 2001. That fierce entrepreneurship paid off, as Playtech is now touted as the best international developer, designer, and licensor of digital app software.

Rather than solely aiming to make the player experience more fun, Playtech strives to prevent problem gambling, develop new and better ways to play, detect fraud, and invent and harness new technologies.