SOURCE: iGaming Business

After only eight years in existence, UK online betting company Betfair has won its second Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Winners of the Queen’s Award are selected on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and an independent advisory committee and Betfair now joins a select group that have been honoured twice since the inception of the decorations in 1966.

The latest Award came in the International Trade category, five years after Betfair was recognised with an Innovation prize for creating the first successful betting exchange, a concept it stated meant a better deal for customers and greater protections within the betting industry.

Winners of an International Trade prize must demonstrate "outstanding achievement sustained over not less than three years or continuous achievement in international trade, sustained over not less than six years" and Betfair will now be able to display the Queen’s Award emblem for another five years.

"Upon winning our first Award in 2003, our Chairman and co-founder, Edward Wray, said that the company was looking forward to taking this great British innovation onto the global stage," said David Yu, Chief Executive of Betfair.

"Five years on, this Award for International Trade is recognition of the strides we’ve made towards achieving that aim. Betfair continues to pride itself on its innovation, integrity, fairness to customers and a determination to work in partnership with international governments and regulators. Those qualities are being recognised throughout the world and we now have operational bases in Australia and Malta to support over one million registered customers.”

Betfair is the UK’s largest online betting operator and is also licensed in Australia, Austria, Italy and Malta. It has grown substantially since the last Award in 2003 from a company with 100,000 users to one with a customer base in excess of one million.