The Russian-licensed betting site of Bwin, Bwin.ru, has stopped its operations in the Russian market. Last weekend, players from Russia were being displayed with a message that the site was “unavailable at present” and that it’s going through a “system maintenance work”. The news came out as a surprise and without any warning prior to that.
At first, the bookmaker’s social media platforms were quiet about the issue. A few days later though, Bwin confirmed that it’s shutting its Russian operations and blamed it on legislation changes and changing realities.
Bwin launched its Russian website in November of 2017 and was one of the first western European bookmakers to do so. Players that were betting under Bwin in Russia will be integrated into Parimatch.ru. The integration will be completed by the end of the month and all bettors that were forced to switch websites will be provided with a unique bonus offer.
Parimatch Russia CEO, Ruslan Medved, stated that: “Not all companies are now able to compete with the mastodons and, no less important, with the market itself and its realities.” In addition, he promised that the website integration would be “as painless as possible for everyone without sacrificing loyalty.”