Bet365 recently informed all Chinese mainland (CCP) and Taiwan (Taiwan) Chinese-speaking users through email and on-site messages that it has ceased operations, a global gambling product, ending its operation in this highly populous gray market for over 20 years.
After ceasing operations in the huge gray area of the Chinese-speaking market, Bet365's registration channels in Asia are now limited to religious countries such as Thailand, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which have quite severe punishments for individual online gambling.
In recent years, Bet365 has successively exited Chinese-speaking peripheral markets such as India and Vietnam, and expelled users from Malaysia and South Korea at the end of last year.
Regulatory Pressure and Strategic Focus
In recent years, China has intensified its crackdown on the offshore gambling industry targeting Chinese residents, including using diplomatic pressure and international cooperation, leading to a deterioration in its Asian market operations.
China's Ministry of Public Security's "Net Cleaning Action" in 2024
Potential huge fines and legal liabilities, global reputation
Unable to provide safer and more convenient payment channels, loss of users
According to data from the strategic consulting firm Regulus Partners, China was once Bet365's second-largest market in 2014, but it is now considered a 'dark gray market', and after exiting, over 90% of their business comes from regulated markets.
In recent years, Bet365 has continued to push into the US and Brazilian markets, which has already weakened their sales share in the Chinese-speaking market.
Six days after the email announcement, Bet365 confirmed through official channels to the media for the first time that after a strategic review, it decided to focus on core markets such as the US and Europe to achieve long-term sustainable revenue. Exiting all non-jurisdictional (offshore) markets including China.
A Decade of Dreams, The Only Constant is Change
In 2018, the legalization of sports betting in the US and the rise of the Brazilian market after the popularization of the mobile internet, Bet365 gradually opened up these markets with the best product experience.
Bet365's website supported Portuguese in 2018, and it is likely that Portuguese customer service was added during that period. The real growth period should be after 2021, in 2022 Bet365 was the most searched gambling site by Brazilians. In August 2024, Bet365 applied for an operating license in Brazil and launched operations in January 2025, with the recruitment announcement for the Brazilian branch involving a large number of Portuguese specialists.
All 50 states in the US currently have 38 states with regulated betting markets, Bet365 earlier obtained the 13th state access license in Illinois. Two days ago, it became the official betting partner of the MLB team St. Louis Cardinals, preparing to enter the licensed market in Missouri in the second half of the year.
In Asia, China has implemented strict anti-money laundering policies in recent years, and Bet365 faces unprecedented market operational risks and returns.
Ten years ago (2014-2015), half of their revenue came from unlicensed markets, which has now become a business decision that can be discarded.
Chinese customer service was once the second largest market specialist outside of Bet365's English customer service. With the help of Grok, they found some changes in Chinese customer service recruitment information on Linkedin over the past decade. In 2023, there were still Chinese customer service recruitments within the UK region, and key business decision information may be reflected in the 2025 fiscal year income report (end of March each year)
Bet365's revenue for the fiscal year 2024 is 3.72 billion pounds.
After Bet365 exited the Chinese-speaking market, these Chinese customer services faced reassignment or layoffs.
Industry Expert Views
Alun Bowden, Vice President of Industry Strategy at the gambling consulting firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG), elaborated his views on Linkedin:
Focusing on regulated markets 'Online Gambling 2.0' companies and less regulated 'Crypto-driven Platform 3.0' companies are increasingly diverging. Opportunities in offshore markets are decreasing, and old operators are increasingly moving towards regulated markets. Although the gray market has a higher EBIDA profit margin, it faces more stringent regulatory pressures.
Companies can hardly operate in regulated and offshore markets at the same time, and there will be no change until a crypto-driven gambling platform makes a significant breakthrough, completes an IPO, or merger.
The Impact of Exiting
The current Chinese-speaking region's existing users are more or less affected, especially those who rely on Bet365's diversified market rules and use various methods for longer-term leveraged arbitrage. The author previously controlled accounts including two Chinese accounts, mainly targeting Outright, especially Outright Parlay's long-term strategy early on. There are quite a few Outright class unsettled orders, and the sudden announcement has already confirmed some losses for the accounts of that year, so the impact on revenue is inevitable.
Chinese residents should not believe any third-world country's Bet365 account opening information
Especially IP information from countries like Kenya, Nigeria, etc., to avoid being deceived. Bet365's market operations are currently focused on some compliant countries, and even if they hold real information, there is still a high risk of account closure again in currently operating non-licensed countries.
Do not believe in the existence of an Asian version
As a brand that has been independent for many years, they only have two options: licensed operations and offshore operations. Any 'Asian version' or 'Chinese version' promotion is purely a scam by a scam gang trying to fool people, be careful not to be deceived.
