This story is sponsored by Sun Bingo
Online gaming operator 888.com is to roll out a gambling platform on the website of Irish budget airline Ryanair, said by the airline to draw half a billion visitors a year.
Ryanair customers will be able to play a range of casino games, poker and sports betting while booking flights, hotels and cars on the website.
The airline’s communications director Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair already delivers Europe’s lowest airfares and with 888.com we now deliver the best online gaming entertainment to half a billion annual visitors to Ryanair.com.
“The world’s first poker tournaments featuring Ryanair flight vouchers as prize money are sure to excite gaming and travel fans throughout Europe who will also find casino, bingo and sportsbetting on Ryanair.com.”
Jackpotjoy and Sun Bingo operator Gamesys used to be Ryanair’s gaming partner, offering bingo and instant win games on the airline’s website.
The new deal with 888.com is not reported to include the creation of an in-flight online gambling system, for which the airline first announced plans back in 2005, with CEO Michael O’Leary saying he believed revenue from gambling could eventually do away with the need for airfares.
A Ryanair spokesman apparently resurrected these plans back in 2009, when a spokesman told the Wall St Journal that: “Ryanair’s onboard gaming systems are still in the development-and-research phase with the focus on launching the service in three to five years.”
If such an in-air system was implemented, all gambling activity on Ryanair planes would need to take place in international airspace, as the UK Gambling Commission does not issue premises licences for aircraft.
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Image courtesy of Creative Commons.
