Betfair Group Ltd : Betfair welcomes development on Italian betting exchange regulation

BETFAIR GROUP PLC, welcomes the actions of the Italian authorities in notifying a Ministerial Decree to the European Commission that will regulate betting exchanges in Italy.

This will subsequently allow Betfair to apply for an authorisation under its existing Italian online gambling licence to operate the company's betting exchange product in the country.

The Company looks forward to working with the Italian authorities to obtain this authorisation over the coming months and become fully operational on .

"We are delighted to have an opportunity to bring our revolutionary betting exchange to Italy.

"This decree signifies the positive on-going development of online gambling regulation in Italy and demonstrates that the Italian authorities have full confidence that the introduction of betting exchanges will be a good move for both consumers and the betting market in general. "We look forward to working with the authorities in Italy to offer consumers greater choice and better value.

"International expansion is a key element of the company's current growth strategy and our ability to license our core exchange product in a market as significant as Italy is hugely important for us."

The Ministerial Decree will now be reviewed by the European Commission, after which it will be returned to the Italian Ministry of Finance for signing following which it will enter into force.

Ends

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Victoria Palmer-Moore
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Notes to Editors

Since 2007, Betfair has held a sportsbook licence in Italy, hosting the product on . Today's development will provide the company with an opportunity to provide a betting exchange in Italy. The legislation sets out a 20% tax on gross profits.
According to industry data, the online gambling market in Italy is today worth €1.4bn.

Betfair is one of the world's largest international online sports betting providers and pioneered the betting exchange in 2000.

Driven by cutting-edge technology, Betfair enables customers to bet at odds sought by themselves or offered by other customers. The company now processes over seven million transactions a day from its four million registered customers around the world. In addition to sports betting, Betfair offers a portfolio of innovative products including casino, exchange games and poker.

Betfair has twice been named the UK's 'Company of the Year' by the Confederation of British Industry and has won two prestigious Queen's Awards for Enterprise, being recognised for Innovation in 2003 and most recently for International Trade in 2008. Betfair currently employs over 2,000 people worldwide. The company holds betting licences in Gibraltar, Denmark, the US, Tasmania, Italy and Malta.