Independent Vickers Racing Launch Online

North-east based independent bookmakers Vickers Racing are set to launch an online betting platform during the first week of August. The Darlington based bookie has been trading for 34 years and is now looking to expand by venturing online.

Owner Johan Moncur told WhichBookie that she is very much looking forward to the launch after approximately 3 years of preparation and finding the right platform partner . 

Following an initial soft launch vickers.bet will also feature an online casino within 2-3 weeks and the firm hopes to attract thousands of new customers from across the UK . 

Most high street bookmakers have struggled over the last few years as the UK Government has finally clamped down on FOBTs in betting shops by restricting maximum stakes to £2 in April 2019. Even worse was to follow this year however as betting shops were forced to close from the 20th March this year due to the on-going global pandemic and did not reopen their doors until July. 

Over the years many independent bookies have launched online but not many have prospered. Profit margins are relatively low and without significant expenditure on marketing most new bookmakers struggle to scale up the operation and cover the high fixed costs . 

Even some of those bookmakers who launched with fairly deep pockets have still failed to survive . An obvious example would be Moplay who with a very experienced management team launched a Sportsbook , Casino and Games platform in 2018 via the SBtech platform with a big fanfare and marketing budget . Indeed Moplay became online sponsors of Manchester United shortly after their launch but that deal ended in August 2019 with Moplay owing the Premier League club £9M ! 

Not long afterwards wary customers began withdrawing funds and the business was eventually declared insolvent . 

Vickers Racing may not have such lofty marketing ambitions as sponsoring Man Utd but the odds are stacked against success as numerous other independent bookies have found in the past . Megabet and Scotbet recently closed their online betting operations despite having sizeable numbers of shops whilst those that are still operating such as Chisholmbet do so at a very low level and essentially making the online betting site available for shop customers only as part of the overall service.  

It’s certainly a bold move for Vickers Racing to take on the online betting big boys and we very much hope they can succeed where countless others have failed.