Polish bookmaker forBET has become the official partner of Runmageddon. The company will be an extreme run partner, including the “Games” formula and the sponsor of prizes. One of them will be a trip to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“We are glad that forBET joins our partners. We want to work with companies that stand out, with which we share a passion for sport. forBET will be a partner of the spectacular formula Runmageddon Games, which we reactivate in the 2020 season,” Piotr Łysik, sales director, said.

“Sport is our passion. Since 2020, forBET has been creating its own running project – the ‘forBET Runners’ association which coincides perfectly with the start of cooperation with Runmageddon. Our new running club and its promotion through broadly understood sport, entertainment and healthy competition will allow you to become better acquainted with the brand and build even greater recognition. Our company once again shows that it does not follow the beaten track and focuses on unconventional projects, which undoubtedly can be called the first such contract in the world, in which the bookmaker cooperates with the obstacle run organizer. We are counting on long-term and fruitful cooperation,” Paweł Majewski, marketing director of forBET, said.

Deutsche Sportwettenverband (DSWV), the German sports betting association, has revealed that consumers in the country spent approximately €9.3bn on sports betting in 2019, up 21% on the previous year.

DSWV said that the year-on-year growth was impressive seeing as 2019 did not have a major international football tournament, whereas 2018 had the FIFA World Cup.

Operators paid a total of €500m in sports betting tax during the 12 months through to December 31, 2019.

“Sports betting has reached the center of society in Germany and has become a popular leisure activity,” Mathias Dahms, President of DSWV, said.

Sazka Group, the gambling firm owned by billionaire Karel Komarek, is set to bid for the UK National Lottery licence. The Group hired City advisers to prepare an offer to take the licence from Camelot in 2023.

A spokesman for Sazka said: “Sazka Group has a proven track record in taking on established lotteries and making them better, which would position it well for any potential bid for the UK’s National Lottery.”

Komarek founded Sazka Group in 2016 and it has since become one of Europe’s biggest lottery operators. In 2018, almost 80 million players placed more than £14 billion of bets across its lotteries and its other sports betting brands.

The contest is set to launch in the first half of the year when the Gambling Commission regulator will question interested parties to check they are “fit and proper” operators.

A spokesman for the Gambling Commission said: “We’ve been reviewing the feedback received from a wide range of interested parties and we have been encouraged by the healthy level of interest.”