A little bit of StanJames history

Steve Fisher and James Holder opened a single betting shop in the small British market town. For those wondering about the company's name, the name was a combination of the first two letters of Steve and his wife (Ann) and James.

In December 2007, after years of humble but stable growth, the Stan James group bought Betdirect - not just from any company, but from 32Red for a staggering £5.75 million. This figure represents best how within a mere 40 years in business Stan James has established itself as a key player within the gambling industry. In the following years, Stan James continued its expansion.

In 2008 Stan James purchased Betterbet from London bookmaker Better. The year after the once small British bookmaker entered the international market. Rather than swallowing yet another company, the Stan James brand decided to cooperate with Betkick Sportwetten, an Austrian company within the sports betting industry. The two companies founded SJBET. This cooperation had the advantage that Stan James profited from the market expertise Betkick possessed regarding the European markets.

Expansion into European Markets

This allowed Stan James to enter the Austrian, German and broader European market smoothly, without facing any major regulatory issues. In 2010 Stan James struck again and bought the bankrupt company Pagebet and its 27 branches - obviously, at a rock-bottom price.

Unibet Merger

In September 2015, there was big news for the company: The Unibet Group laid down £19 million on Stan James - one of the highest sums paid for an acquisition within the British gambling circuit.
Stan James' history of making smart business moves and never failing to acquire other betting companies that were struggling but showed potential, boosted the gambling company's worth. Furthermore, the Stan James management was among the first to take digital serious and market themselves successfully.

Services

Aside from sports betting, Stan James provides players with several state-of-the-art online services, including slots, live casino games and bingo and poker rooms. The high standing of Stan James as a quality provider of online games has allowed the company to gain massive traction in its marketing campaigns. In fact, between 2000 and 2010, it ran the Stan James World Matchplay, which soon established itself as the second most important event in darts at the time - obviously, preceded by the World Professional Dart Championships. Stan James has also been highly successful in its Cheltenham campaigns and sponsors the final race in the 'Road to Cheltenham'. This has not just had a positive impact on the operator, but also on the festival itself which has been able to increases its viewer ratings massively.

In sum, Stan James is a prime example of a company that will continue to grow. Its success is down to three areas: business development, marketing and cooperation - all of which are excellently managed at Stan James.