Biggest Online Gambling Companies In The World
- Biggest Online Gambling Companies In The World History
- Biggest Online Gambling Companies In The World Countries
- Top Companies In The World
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It’s no secret that the last 21 years have been monumental for online gambling. Over this time, many of the major players have transformed from fringe companies to massive corporations. Right now the industry has skyrocketed to be worth $35.97 billion, and there’s no end in sight. On the contrary, the online gambling industry is set to grow to a staggering $66.59 billion by 2020. That unfathomable amount of money is creating a bonanza that’s too enticing for many companies to ignore.
Now that the industry is being formalized, many companies are cashing in. These may seem like opportunists, but many of the leading companies have been involved since the late 90’s. From bold newcomers such as Canada’s Amaya Gaming Group to the pioneers, some companies stand out from the pack. Their net worths are larger than life, which makes them impossible to ignore.
For responsible punters, getting to know the leading players in the online gambling industry is essential. We know how important it is for our readers to stay informed, so we created this list. Prepare to get an intimate look at the biggest online gambling companies in the world. Their net worths are staggering, so get ready to see the industry’s potential!
Biggest Online Gambling Companies
This Israeli-owned company has risen from nothing.
Gambling Giant #3: Playtech ($3.6 Billion Net Worth) – Ever since it was founded, this company has been hell-bent on dominating the industry. Despite countless setbacks, Playtech has exploded in growth over the last few years. In 2015 alone, it grew from $3.32 billion to $3.6 billion. It was founded by Teddy Sagi in 1999, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. Even though it was valued at £550 million, this company was just getting started. They created their legacy by providing top of the line online casino games that range from slots to sports betting.
They may have enjoyed explosive growth, but Playtech has also experienced its fair share of setbacks. Their founder Teddy Sagi was convicted of a slew of charges including insider trading. He ended up spending nine months behind bars, but emerged stronger than ever. One of their games Lakshmi Gold has also been accused of defaming Hindu deities. Ignoring the consternation of the Hindu community, this game is still online. Despite these hiccups, Playtech has a good reputation for taking care of its players.
Ever since its foundation this has been an empire.
Gambling Giant #2: William Hill ($4.95 Billion Net Worth) – Out of all the companies on the list, this one has been in the game the longest. The company first started in 1934, when their founder William Hill found a loophole in Britain’s gambling laws. This allowed him to accept bets and create an empire that has lasted almost a century. When online gambling came about, William Hill was one of the first land based companies to switch over. Their unparalleled expertise allowed them to effortlessly dominate online gambling in Europe.
Just like all of the top names in the industry, William Hill has been the center of plenty of controversy. The company was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office of Britain for accounting irregularities in the late 1990’s. William Hill has also been accused of bribing top members of parliament to pass UK gambling tax structures in 2014. This forced out most of the smaller competition, and allowed William Hill and his syndicate to prosper.
Two of the biggest players in the game have united to dominate the industry.
Gambling Giant #1: Paddy Power Betfair PLC ($11.96 Billion Net Worth) – This behemoth company was formed by the merger of two of the biggest online betting companies in the world. Betfair and Paddy Power made history when they finalized their merger in February 2016. It’s no secret why these companies decided to team up, since they were both game changers embroiled in controversy. Betfair revolutionized fixed-odds sports betting sites by allowing players to offer each other wagers. This led to them becoming the largest betting exchange on the internet, but they drew harsh criticism for charging winners.
Paddy Power was the largest gambling company in Ireland, that gained notoriety for their outrageous marketing campaigns. They started as three bookmaker’s shops in 1988, and expanded aggressively ever since. They switched from land to online betting shops in the 1990’s, quickly dominating the market. Their gung-ho marketing has repeatedly gotten them in trouble. From putting odds on Obama’s assassination to species that would go extinct from oil spills, they’re no strangers to controversy. Now that they have merged with an equally aggressive partner, this company is set to continue dominating online gambling.
We Live Security looks at six of the biggest online gaming hacks to date – From Xbox Live and PSN, to Big Fish Games and Steam.
Online gaming systems and apps are a common target for cybercriminals, looking to do everything from improving their own scores and grabbing new game features to stealing Bitcoin wallets. We now look at six of the biggest online gaming hacks to date.
1. Sony PlayStation Network
The Sony PlayStation Network was famously hacked back in April 2011, resulting not only in the compromise of up to 77 million accounts, but also downtime which prevented users of the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles from playing online through the service.
The attack continued for two days, eventually forcing Sony to turn off the PlayStation Network on April 20 – a downtime which lasted for 23 days. The Japanese electronics giant admitted that personally identifiable information from each of the 77 million accounts was breached, with 12,000 encrypted credit card details potentially accessed as well.
This breach remains one of the biggest in the 21st century, and has been described as the fourth biggest of all time, going by records lost. Sony said that the outage costs set the firm back a whopping $171 million.
2. Xbox Live, PlayStation Network (again)
Father Christmas may bring presents on Christmas Day, but the gifts handed out by hactivism collective the ‘Lizard Squad’ were less well received, especially by Sony and Microsoft, on 25th December 2014.
The group launched a series of distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Xbox Live and the Sony PlayStation Network (PSN) on Christmas Day, bringing down both services and leaving gamers young and old twiddling their thumbs instead of their gamepads, unable to play the latest releases.
Access to PSN and Xbox Live was eventually restored between 24 and 48 hours later, but the attack gave a good example of the growing skills in hactivism groups and showed just how disruptive cyberattacks can be.
3. Steam
The online video game service Steam was the subject of a massive data breach in 2011, which resulted in attackers compromising login details for one of its discussion forums as well as a database which held ID and credit card data, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information.
Fortunately, service owner Valve said that there was no evidence that credit cards had been misused or Steam accounts abused. Valve took the forums offline after learning of the attack.
Passwords, credit card details, billing addresses and more were stolen in a Steam breach in 2013.
The firm quickly begun their own investigation, advised forum users to change their passwords, and on other accounts if the same as used for Steam.
Steam is a gaming service that lets people buy, download, play and chat about a huge variety of games. It is used by around 35 million users worldwide.
4. Gamigo
Back in 2012, Germany-based free online gaming site Gamigo was hacked, with hackers posting as many as 11 million passwords online after they had penetrated the website’s defenses.
These passwords were published onto a forum, and contained 8.2 million unique email addresses. Gamigo warned users in early March that an “attack on the Gamigo database” had exposed hashed passwords and usernames and possibly other “additional personal data.” The site required users to change their account passwords.
The dump of passwords contained email addresses from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and many other services, indicating that some Gamigo users may have used the same password for other accounts.
5. Big Fish Games
Back in February of this year, Seattle-based gaming company Big Fish Games revealed that it had suffered from a data breach in which hackers made off with customer payment information.
The firm discovered the breach on January 12 and said that malware was installed on the billing and payment pages of the company’s website. Hackers subsequently intercepted customer data including names, addresses, payment card numbers, expiration dates and CVV2 codes.
Gamers were again put at risk when Big Fish was hacked in February last year
Big Fish Games stressed that only customers who had entered new payment information on the company’s website between 24 December 2014 and January 8, 2015 may be affected. Those who used payment information from a previously saved profile don’t appear to be impacted – and the same applied to customers buying games on Facebook, iOS or Android.
Founded in 2002, Big Fish claims to be the world’s largest producer and distributor of casual games. The company says it has distributed more than 2.5 billion games to customers in over 150 countries.
6. Various (South Korea)
In August of last year, South Korean authorities confirmed that 27 million individuals in the country had been hit by a massive data breach – a figure which means nearly 70 percent of the population between 15 and 65 years of age were affected, according to Tech Worm.
Biggest Online Gambling Companies In The World History
The breach came to light after the law enforcement arrested 16 individuals who were suspected either of the attack itself, or of trying to sell the records on.
One criminal, known only as “Kim”, was apparently attempting to sell over 220 million items of personal information after allegedly buying these details from a hacker.
Biggest Online Gambling Companies In The World Countries
The police suspected that “Kim” used the personal information to steal online game currency by using a hacking tool. This tool logs onto a user’s account once the log-in details are entered. If the passwords were wrong, he allegedly bought the personal information on ID cards and their issue dates from a retailer in Daegu, to change the passwords himself.
The data, which included account logins and registration numbers, was stolen after attackers hacked registration pages for online games, movie ticketing and ringtone downloads. Online gambling promotion services were also affected, reported Korea’s Joongang Daily at the time.