BetVictor

The company was founded by William Chandler, the proprietor of Walthamstow Stadium, a greyhound racing track located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in East London, which he inaugurated in 1931.[1] Following William Chandler's death in 1946, the bookmaking enterprise was inherited by Victor Sr. and Jack. Victor Sr. died unexpectedly in 1974, and his son Victor Jr., who was then employed in the hospitality industry in Spain, assumed control of the business.

In 1998, the headquarters relocated to Gibraltar to avoid UK gambling tax.[2] Some have suggested this was a factor in the decision to abolish gambling tax in Gordon Brown's 2001 budget.[3]

The company underwent a rebranding in 2004, changing its name to "VC Bet", but eventually reverted to "Victor Chandler" in late 2008.[4] In 2012, to ensure consistency and recognition across international markets, the company underwent another rebranding and adopted the name "BetVictor".[5] In May 2014, Michael Tabor, a businessman and major shareholder of Victor Chandler International, assumed control of the company.[6]

In September 2021, BetVictor disclosed its collaboration with Quantum Metric aimed at advancing and enhancing consumer-centric products.[7]

BetVictor has sponsored several sporting events over the years, most notably in horse racing, with the grade 1 listed Clarence House Chase at Ascot, which was titled as the Victor Chandler Chase from its inauguration in 1989 to 2013. The company also sponsored the Queen Mother Champion Chase during the Cheltenham Festival in 2014, the BetVictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham from 2016 to 2019,[8] the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in 2018,[9] and had a multi-fixture partnership with Newbury Racecourse consisting of 41 individual races in 2021–2022.[10]

In other sports, BetVictor has sponsored the Welsh Open snooker, the World Matchplay darts, Liverpool F.C.,[11] and Fulham F.C.[12]

In 2020, German newspaper BILD confirmed that it has started a cooperation with BetVictor to launch BildBet.[13] Later in the 2020, BetVictor made an agreement with Parimatch to be their white label provider in the UK.[14] On September 9, 2021, BetVictor announced a partnership with Global Media & Entertainment to relaunch HeartBingo, their UK gaming brand.[15] In August 2022, BetVictor partnered with talkSPORT to launch a new UK sports betting brand, talkSPORT BET.[16]

In February 2022 BetVictor faced a £2 million (€2.4/$2.7 million) regulatory action after the UK Gambling Commission investigation revealed fairness, social responsibility, and anti-money laundering failures.[17] The operator will pay the money as part of a settlement with the commission, and the settlement money will go to the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.[18]

In 2023, the UK Advertising Standards Authority investigated a BetVictor Facebook ad featuring images of FC Barcelona players Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets. They ruled that the advert had breached the code of practice as it was likely to have strong appeal to under-18s.[19]