ONLINE sports betting company Betfair is set to expand its Irish operations by establishing a Dublin- based data centre which will create up to 100 jobs.
The London-listed company – which is the largest online betting services company in the world – will relocate a number of its overseas customer services operators to the office, but is also recruiting here.
Betfair employs more than 2,000 people worldwide, more than 600 of whom are tasked with maintaining the company’s betting exchange – which processes more than five million transactions every day from three million global customers.
Chief executive David Yu said Ireland was something of a natural choice for a facility such as this.
"Ireland has become a primary destination for world-leading online companies and we’re proud to be joining other global technology firms in making a significant investment here," he said.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Conor Lenihan heralded the announcement as terrific for Dublin and one which "demonstrates the changing nature of our increasingly knowledge-based economy".
"Ireland is fast becoming a location of choice for many of the world’s most advanced internet and digital-content companies and Betfair is an example of the type of company we want to attract," he added.
Betfair holds betting licences in Ireland, Britain, the US, Tasmania, Italy and Malta.
Meanwhile, bookmaker, Paddy Power – which has created around 100 jobs in its Irish operations in the last 12 months – has nearly 50 vacant positions, mainly in the IT areas.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, November 03, 2010
