Playtech successfully launches Retail Sports Betting on MSC Cruise Ships

5 September 2025 – Playtech today announced the successful launch of its retail sports betting rollout across the MSC Cruises fleet. The deployment builds on a recently established partnership between the two companies earlier this year, marking Playtech’s entry into the cruise leisure sector and extends its innovative technology to a new frontier in entertainment.

As the world’s third largest cruise line and the market leader in Europe with a strong and growing presence in North America, MSC Cruises offers a powerful platform for Playtech’s global expansion into new verticals. This strategic collaboration introduces Playtech’s cutting-edge sports betting solutions to the cruise sector, enhancing the onboard entertainment experience for guests.

MSC Cruises’ onboard casinos are designed to deliver a dynamic mix of entertainment, featuring reel, video, and video poker slot machines, alongside timeless table games such as Roulette, Blackjack, Three Card Poker, and Texas Hold’em. With the addition of sports betting, guests now have even more ways to engage and enjoy their time at sea. Guests can place bets on a wide range of sports events through Self-Service Betting Terminals and Playtech’s newly developed mobile tills, all seamlessly integrated with guests’ onboard accounts for a smooth and secure experience.

Yori Arami, VP Sports at Playtech commented; “We are excited to partner with MSC Cruises and bring our retail sports betting solutions to their impressive fleet. This partnership represents a significant milestone for Playtech as we continue to expand our offerings and provide unique, engaging experiences for players around the world on land and sea.”

Mara Friso, Head of Casino at MSC Cruises said, “We are very proud to be able to deliver the excitement and engagement of sports gaming to our guests through our partnership with Playtech. Our fleet of modern cruise ships will provide our customers a wide array of immersive digital content as a complement to our state-of-the-art cruise casinos.”

The initial phase of the rollout is now live across seven MSC Cruises vessels, with additional deployments scheduled over the coming months. The integration leverages Playtech’s advanced retail sports betting technology, delivering a seamless and engaging experience for guests onboard.

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About MSC Cruises

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the privately-owned MSC Cruises is the world’s third largest cruise line and the market leader in Europe with a strong and growing presence in North America.

A global cruise brand with 23 modern ships offering cruises across five continents, guests can visit more than 100 countries worldwide with more than 300 destinations, making unforgettable memories and enjoying the finest hospitality.

About Playtech
Founded in 1999 and with a listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, Playtech is a technology leader in the gambling industry with over 7,300 employees across 19 countries.

Playtech is the gambling industry’s leading technology company delivering business intelligence driven gambling software, services, content and platform technology across the industry’s most popular product verticals, including, casino, live casino, sports betting, bingo and poker. It is the pioneer of omni-channel gambling technology through its integrated platform technology, Playtech ONE. Playtech ONE delivers data driven marketing expertise, single wallet functionality, CRM and responsible gambling solutions across one single platform across product verticals and across retail and online. Playtech partners with and invests in the leading brands in regulated and newly regulated markets to deliver its data-driven gambling technology across the online and retail value chain. Playtech provides its technology on a B2B basis to the industry’s leading online and retail operators, land-based casino groups and government sponsored entities such as lotteries.