Camelot Group sees another revenue increase
October 31, 2008 by mbates
Camelot Group the UK operator of the National Lottery today has published its results and has seen an increase up to the half year ending September 2008. It has showed that ticket sales had increased by £181.3m an improvement of 7.6%, which saw total ticket sales reaching an amazing £2.559.7m.
This latest increase has highlighted the upward trend of the last five years and has helped the direct return to the Lottery’s Good Causes in the sixth month period £38.3m, making the total raised for good causes standing at just over £22 billion.
The public has also benefited from this upturn at it has seen the Lottery make on average four new millionaires are week across all National Lottery games
Gala leaves all Associations
October 29, 2008 by mbates
In what may be seen as a shock move Gala Coral Group has ceased it’s membership with four trade bodies the Bingo Association, Remote Gambling Association, the Association of British Bookmakers and the British Casino Association. Gala Coral is one of the United Kingdoms largest gambling operators and insists its decision to leave is to establish an industry wide gambling association.
A spokesman confirmed “This is not us withdrawing from these associations because we don’t think they’re very good,” we’ve got a new Gambling Act and a new regulator but we have separate trade associations where there’s a lot of duplication.”
The Chairman of the the Bingo Association, Sir Peter Fry has expressed his disappoitnment over the descion by Gala Coral to leave the association and to cease its memebership in the other trade bodies. Sir Peter said “The Association has represented the industry in a robust and successful manner, providing a cohesive voice for bingo. Despite Gala`s decision to be outside this important industry forum and platform.”
Stanleybet opens Greek Betting Shops
October 27, 2008 by mbates
The UK and Malta based Stanleybet International has today opened its first branches in Greece, one branch in Athens and a second in Thessaloniki. The Greek market is currently dominated by OPAP who have maintained a monopoly in Greece and have promised to try and uphold this position. OPAP is the largest publicly trading gambling company in Europe and it had paid the Greek government in 2001 for a license that gave it the right to be the country’s sole gambling service until 2020
In February of this year pressure was applied on the Greek government by the European Commission to liberalise its gambling market and allow other companies to be able to trade as its current law regarding gambling was not parallel with European law.
Sale of Tote postponed
October 23, 2008 by mbates
The proposed sale of the state owned Tote this autumn has been placed on hold indefinitely due to the current state of the UK and global economy. The UK Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said the Tote would only be sold at a time when the correct market value could be achieved and would deliver value to the UK tax payer.
Mr Sutcliffe said “It is right that the Tote is now given time to grow the business so that any future sale will achieve maximum value. In particular, I would expect the Tote and racing to continue to work closely together for the benefit of the sport and the punter. The government would like to place on record again its warm appreciation of the loyalty and dedication of the Tote and its staff whilst its future has been under consideration”
The Tote has over 450 shops and has a workforce of 4,500 employees; it also has a major presence on the 59 racecourses around England, the Tote has been valued at just over £400 million by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Some of the potential bidders for the Tote who have expressed an interest include Gala Coral, Betfred and Sportech plc who have recently taken over operation of the Football Pools.
William Hill announces growth amid UK recession fears
October 20, 2008 by mbates
William Hill the United Kingdoms second biggest bookmaker has reported an increase of 9% in gross win in the 15 weeks ending October 14th in a statement today. This combined with earlier news about the recent Playtech announcement has seen an increase in the share price of William Hill of 21%.
The strongest growth Hills has seen is in online bingo and games while poker has been seen to suffer to due weak player take up which has been attributed to William Hill being built mainly on sports betting and having only a limited online gaming experience.
Shares in William Hill have hit just over 200.00 today compared to a year low on Friday of 164.25 following the global slump of the past two weeks.
Google to reintroduce gambling ads
October 17, 2008 by mbates
The search engine giant Google has decided to amend its policy on gambling adverts and will recede its previous global ban on gambling advertising and will allow companies to target the United Kingdom. The advertisements will be reintroduced to Google’s UK website (except Northern Ireland) from today.
Google will start to accept adverts from UK companies that are registered with the Gambling Commission and non UK-based advertisers in the 30 countries that make up the European Economic Area. Gambling companies in the EEA can target ads at Google users in Great Britain provided they hold a licence in the country where they are based. By including the EEA this will allow a large number of the off shore operators such as the Gibraltar based 888.com to advertise.
James Cashmore from Google said “Over the last few months we’ve been reviewing our gambling advertising policy in Great Britain to ensure it is as consistent as possible with local business practices. Following the review we’ve decided to amend our policy to allow text ads to appear against search queries related to gambling in Great Britain”. These adverts will be classified as “non-family safe” which means they will not appear if the “Safe Search Filter” is switched on.
Paddy Power pay out on Obama as next President of USA
October 16, 2008 by mbates
Paddy Power have today paid out on all backers of Barack Obama as the forty fourth President of the United States of America following the conclusion of the Presidential debate in New York.
The shock move comes a full three weeks before the 4th November election day and sees Paddy Power paying out over one million Euros in winning bets. Prior to the payout Barack Obama was virtually unbackable with odds of 1-9. A spokesperson for Paddy Power said “We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama, your winnings await you”
Despite the massive payout of today. Paddy Power is still offering betting right up to election day, Barack Obama’s rival in the presidential stakes John McCain is currently showing odds of 5.1.
Neteller becomes Neovia Financial
October 15, 2008 by mbates
The popular Isle of Man based online payment processor is due to change its name on 17th November 2008 from Neteller to Neovia Financial and be listed on the Stock Exchange as NEO (meaning new way) as part of a major rebranding exercise. The change is subject to the passing of a special resolution which will be held at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the company’s shareholders which is on Tuesday 11th November 2008.
Neteller currently process online payments for companies such as Ladbrokes and was famously one of the major victims of the US law change on Internet gambling in 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) saw Neteller handed a fine of $136 million dollars. This US act made a 90% reduction in Neteller’s revenue stream and the firm then targeted Asian and European vendors in attempt to recover the lost revenue. It is the aim of Neteller that the new identity will distinguish the parent firm from its individual Neteller, NetBanx and Net+ brands.
William Hill disappointed with increase in Ireland’s betting tax
October 14, 2008 by mbates
Ireland’ss minister for Finance Brian Lenihan announced today that the Government will double the current 1 per cent tax on bookmakers turnover to 2 per cent, this will net the exchequer an extra €40 million. The move was condemned by the Irish Bookmakers’ Association who said it will drive small bookmakers out of business.
William Hill Director Of Racing & Public Relations David Hill commented; “We are surprised and disappointed that the Irish Government is increasing betting tax at a time when the man in the street continues to feel less change in his pocket day after day. As a turnover tax, rather than a Gross Profits Tax, which is now the model adopted in the UK and other territories, it will make running large estates of betting shops and particularly an internet or telephone business in Ireland very unattractive. William Hill customers can continue to bet ‘tax free’ because we will absorb the cost on their behalf for the time being. Our initial thoughts are though, that some operators will have to consider passing on the cost to their customers through reduced odds and trading concessions. It may make the ownership of some betting shops in Ireland unsustainable and could lead to redundancies.”
William Hill and other leading bookmakers will not pass on the tax increase to their customers.
Breeders’ Cup returns to Churchill Downs in 2010
October 10, 2008 by mbates
Following several months of speculation it has been confirmed by the organisers of the Breeders Cup that the location for 2010 Breeders’ Cup will be Churchill Downs. The event will be held on the 5th and 6th November 2010 and is known as the one the most prestigious racing events in the racing calendar.
The 14 races take place over two days and will have a total prize fund of £13 million ($25.5 million dollars). The race will be shown live in over 120 countries and will be shown in the UK on Sky Sports. Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Robert Evans said in a press release “Our state, industry and our Churchill Downs team take great pride in the unparalleled record of success of the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs. The bold idea that became the Breeders’ Cup was unveiled in our city by visionary breeder and Breeders’ Cup founder John Gaines, and we are excited to officially start the countdown to the first visit by this great event in its new two-day format to Churchill Downs in 2010.”
The return to Churchill Downs marks the seventh time that the famous Louisville track has held the event, most recently in 2006, but it will be the first time it has hosted it in the new two day format. This years Breeders’ Cup races will be held on October 24th & 25th at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California as will the 2009 event.