138Bet is no longer an active betting site but they were once a major player across the globe, and particularly in Asia. Issues behind the scenes at their parent company have been used to explain the brand’s disappearance, although the exact reason is not known for sure. Without the criminal charges levelled against former CEO Alvin Chau, 138 may still have existed today, as they had good financial backing and the ability to appeal to an Asian audience around the world, including in the UK.
Who Were They?
Sun City Gaming Promotion Company Limited were the gambling specialists responsible for the creation of 138Bet (often simply referred to as 138 or 138.com). Alvin Chau, who had the nickname Sai Mai-wa, was the man behind the company. He was born in 1974 and holds dual Portugues and Chinese nationalities. He launched 138 in 2007, primarily as a junket provider in Macau. Junkets are essentially facilitators who bring high-wealth individuals to casinos, sometimes even lending them money with which to gamble.
During its height the company was responsible for around one-third of Macau’s gross gaming revenue, such was the company’s reputation and clientele list. Given Macau’s importance in global gambling, and the high-rollers from mainland China that play there, that was clearly a very significant sum.
Like any ambitious company though, Sun City Gaming were not content just thriving off Macau junket money. They branched out overseas with their junkets and also looked to establish a gambling presence online. One of their most successful online ventures was with the betting site 138SunGame, which became popular across the Asian continent. Spurred on by this, Sun City Gaming brought the brand to Europe in the hope they could penetrate the potentially lucrative market on the other side of the planet.
138.com Rebrand
As part of the expansion, the new European-facing site was rebranded to 138.com and launched in 2013. With a new-look website at the ready, the main aim was to target Asian ex-pats. Not only did their reputation in Asia help with this but they focussed much more on Asian sports than most other bookmakers at the time. Although sports betting was a major part of their offering, many Asian gamblers love casino games too, so 138 were sure to include these on their site as well.
A more unique offering to 138.com’s website was their ‘financial betting’ page, which allowed users to bet on fluctuations of things such as currencies and stocks. Given how popular such betting was with their target audience, it was a worthy addition to the site. As well as tailoring betting content towards Asian ex-pats, the website supported several Asian languages such as Chinese and Vietnamese, something few European sites would have done at the time. They also offered the full range of Asian odds formats too.
As Sun City Gaming did not have valid licences themselves to operate in Europe and the UK, they instead partnered with operators that did and used their licences. Fesuge Limited, which is no longer active, had the UK licence and were covered to take bets on global.138.com and 138.co.uk. Xela Holdings and TGP Europe handled the European side of things. Xela were a completely unknown entity but TGP Europe have turned into a successful company as a white label provider.
Football Sponsorship Deals
With the Sun City Gaming parent company funding the business venture, 138Bet had money to burn and were eager to get their name out there and also see it become a respected one. In addition to launching an affiliate scheme with competitive rates of pay, they penned a couple of pricey sponsorship deals. Both deals began in 2013, when 138Bet first launched in Europe.
Watford FC (June 2013)
The most prolific of 138’s two sponsorship deals in English football saw them become the front of shirt sponsor for then Championship club Watford. Xela Holdings CEO, Garth Kimber, personally signed off on the deal, which would have been a nice moment for him as a life-long Watford fan.
Although a warm feeling towards the club may have played a part in making the deal happen, it was seen as a mutually beneficial arrangement. The Hornets were not enjoying Premier League status at the time but the second-tier Championship still enjoyed good viewing figures and Watford were seen as promotion contenders.
It is worth noting that the deal only saw 138.com branding feature across the full set of adult shirts and not junior/child ones. This is not because of the terms 138 had requested but because UK regulations at the time prevented betting companies from featuring on non-adult strips.
Although the exact fee for the three-year deal was not revealed at the time, Watford CEO Scott Duxbury called it “a significant partnership deal for the club, probably one of its best in its recent history”. This in itself was not a particularly bold comment though, given the rapid rise of money entering into the English game at the time. One credible source reported that the sponsorship deal was worth $2.2m a season, although this figure was taken from the 2015-16 campaign rather than looking at the three-year average. It is possible, and even quite likely, that the contract 138 signed included an increased fee following Watford’s promotion to the Premier League.
As mentioned above, after two-years of wearing 138.com on their shirts, Watford were back at the top of the English football pyramid. Even if this did increase the value of the sponsorship deal in place with 138, then it still put it as one of the cheapest deals in the division. No doubt 138 would have been delighted to see the Hornets bag promotion as it meant their name would be aired to hundreds of millions of global spectators during the 2015/16 season.
When the three-year deal was close to expiring at the end of 2015/16 season, 138.com agreed a one-year extension with the Hertfordshire club. Again, details of the agreement were hard to find but this is not at all unusual with such arrangements. The partnership did not extend any further than the 2016/17 campaign though, with 138 eventually replaced by FxPro, putting an end to their four-year stay on the front of the Hornets’ shirt.
Newcastle United (July 2013)
The other major deal 138.com signed, a month after the Watford agreement, was with Premier League side Newcastle United, becoming their ‘official Global Gaming and Betting Partner’. As part of the deal, 138’s logo featured across all of Newcastle’s media channels, official club website and across St James’ Park on matchdays.
Additionally, 138.com began providing in-stadium betting services at the 52,000-seater stadium. Talking about the deal, Newcastle’s head of partnerships, Dale Aitchison, said “we are truly delighted to form a global partnership with one of the fastest growing gaming brands in the world.”
Given Newcastle’s fan base and the fact they had been a largely consistent Premier League team since the creation of the division back in 1992, this would have been another relatively costly deal. 138.com’s deal with Watford may have attracted more media attention but the brand were keen to promote Newcastle just as much. On their website they would regularly have promotions specifically tied to Watford and/or Newcastle matches.
Although 138 had strong ties to Newcastle through this deal, terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. Even the duration of the deal was not announced officially, although Xela Holdings CEO Kimber hinted that the plan was for it to remain in place for several seasons.
These two deals represent the only two footballing partnerships 138.com had before their rather sudden exit from the market in 2020. Prior to their disappearance they had built up quite the customer base, no doubt in part thanks to these deals, showing just how effective they can be.