Vyking has officially launched its new sportsbook product, built in partnership with Bulgaria-headquartered B2B sportsbook provider FIRST.bet.
The agreement with FIRST.bet, which has been particularly active in Latin America-focused deals throughout 2026, marks a significant step in Vyking’s planned expansion into the betting market.
At the core of the partnership is FIRST.bet’s SportOS “frontend-less” sportsbook operating system, which gives operators the freedom to build their own player-facing product.
Vyking took full advantage of that flexibility, designing and building the sportsbook platform itself and operating the frontend across both desktop and mobile environments.
FIRST.bet’s role in the arrangement focuses on the engine beneath the product, covering pricing, training, risk, bet acceptance, and settlement on behalf of Vyking.
All player-facing elements, including design decisions, user flow, and bet slip behaviour, were handled entirely by Vyking’s own team throughout the development process.
Franz Gerhart, CEO of Vyking, explained that the partnership was driven by a desire to build a product that genuinely reflected what players in their operators’ markets expect and want.
“We know how players in our operators’ markets behave, and we wanted a sportsbook that showed it,” said Franz Gerhart. “SportOS let us build that ourselves. We designed the product, our team wrote the frontend, and we put real work into the mobile experience, because that is where the players are. FIRST.bet runs the engine behind it and that has held up.”
Tom Light, Chief Executive Officer of FIRST.bet, praised Vyking’s approach to the project, highlighting the company’s willingness to take ownership of the build rather than outsource the work.
“Vyking did the hard part,” said Tom Light. “They had a clear view of what their clients needed and they built it themselves, rather than asking someone else to build it for them. That is what SportOS is for. Our job is the sportsbook behind their product: pricing, trading, risk, bet acceptance and settlement. What the player sees belongs to Vyking.”
The partnership reflects a broader trend in the iGaming industry, where operators increasingly seek greater control over their product’s look, feel, and user experience without sacrificing the reliability of a proven backend.
FIRST.bet’s SportOS system is specifically designed to enable exactly this kind of arrangement, allowing operators to own the frontend while benefiting from an experienced sportsbook provider handling the technical complexity behind the scenes.
With mobile identified as a key battleground for player engagement, Vyking’s decision to invest heavily in the mobile experience signals a confident and focused approach to competing in today’s sportsbook market.
