Mr Green Sportsbook Closes To The UK 8th September 2022, Casino Closed April 2024

On 8th September 2022 Mr Green withdrew their sportsbook from UK customers, although it will remain available in Ireland.  Mr Green is not closing entirely, the casino side, for which it is most famous, will remain available as normal.

Those in the United Kingdom will, however, no longer be able to place sports bets from 8th September but will still be able to withdraw as normal.  Ante-post bets that settle after this date will be paid out.

Mr Green have been licensed in the UK since 2015 and launched their sportsbook in the UK a year later.  The brand, originally from Sweden launched in 2008, enjoyed significant success in Europe and the UK and this led to their acquisition by William Hill in 2019 for £242 million.

William Hill were themselves acquired by Caesars in 2020 and they sold the UK and European arm of William Hill to 888 in 2021 – including the shops, websites and Mr Green.  This sale and transfer officially completed in 2022 and since then the group have been looking at their strategic outlook.

With the group overall now running three sportsbooks in the UK (William Hill, Mr Green and 888 Sport) they clearly felt that the Mr Green sportsbook could go.  This is largely because casino is the biggest product for Mr Green and Will Hill and 888 both have much bigger sportsbooks.

We are told that the plan was made several months ago and that the William Hill Group always planned to close the MRG sportsbook in 2022.  They have, however, brought the date forward to 8th September thanks to new rules on Remote Customer Interaction due on 12th September.  It clearly made no sense for them to upgrade their processes to only then close the sports section of the site.

The move is therefore partly strategic, based on the fact WH and 888 corner a lot of the sports market already, and partly to reduce costs with regards to new regulations.  Further regulations are likely incoming too with the new delayed gambling act that is understood to be published before the end of 2022.

In February 2024 the group announced that all services to the UK will stop on 2nd April 2024, meaning the casino is now closed to UK customers too from that date.