Paddy Power refund punters on F1 farce
July 26, 2010 by mbates
Following the farcical decision by the Ferrari racing team that saw them allow Fernando Alonso to overtake the race leader Felipe Massa to win the German Grand Prix at the weekend.
As a show of good faith Paddy Power have decided that the only fair thing to do is refund bets made on Massa. So far the internet bookmakers Paddy Power have refunded over £15,000 to literally hundreds of punters who had backed Massa to win the race.
Since the incident the FIA have fined Ferrari $100,000 for breaching sporting regulations but the the results will still stand. The fine is the maximum that the stewards are allowed to impose. However there are calls that the fine should not be financial but the team should be penalised by a points reduction.
Englands World Cup draw cost bookies a pretty penny
June 21, 2010 by mbates
As well as upsetting millions of English football fans the disappointing 0-0 draw against Algeria has cost internet bookmakers a tidy packet. Two of the leading online bookmakers Boylesports and Paddy Power were running cash back offers on the game should England not with their second Group C match.
Against all the odds England failed to score and left the country dumbstruck and according to reports have cost Paddy Power in the region of £200,000 in refunds thanks to their Bore War Money-Back Special, figures were not yet available from Boylesports but expect a similar kind of figure, both bookies were also caught out with the opening match against the USA.
With one more game left in the Group matches on Wednesday will the bookies be more careful with their cash back offers or will they be tempting in more punters and hope that lightning does not strike for a third time!
Paddy Power will donate £2500 for every Rooney goal
June 9, 2010 by mbates
The internet bookmakers Paddy Power have announced a novel way of donating money to the children’s charity Barnardo’s, which is one the United Kingdoms major child charities which each year spends over £195 million on helping vulnerable children.
For each goal that England striker Wayne Rooney scores during his World Cup campaign in South Africa the bookmaker will donate £2500, with England being placed in Group C and having the prospects of facing one of the tournaments easiest first three matches the chances of England’s star striker bagging quite a few goals and maybe even the golden boot or shoe are quite good, which hopefully will translate into a healthy donation to such a worthy charity.
Number of Wayne Rooney World Cup Goals
The odds are according to Paddy Power website at time of publication.
- 9/2 - One (£2500)
- 10/3 - Two (£5000)
- 10/3 - Three (£7500)
- 3/1- Four (£10,000)
- 7/2 - Five or more (£12500 or higher)
Liz Cox the Director of Fundraising for Barnardo’s said “Barnardo’s is thrilled to be the beneficiary of such an exciting initiative. With Paddy Powers help we will be able to support the most vulnerable children’s lives.”
Paddy Power offering a free bar in Liverpool if McCoy wins National
April 9, 2010 by mbates
The internet bookmakers Paddy Power have a fantastic offer up for grabs if Irish jockey AP McCoy rides the winner of the 2010 John Smith’s Aintree Grand National, a free bar for people in Liverpool, it sounds like a dangerous combination and will surely lead to a dry house.
Paddy Power have teamed up with the owner of ‘Aldo’s Place’ a drinking establishment in Liverpool owned by none other than Irish football legend John Aldridge (who played for Liverpool, Tranmere Rovers and Real Sociedad )and they will sponsor a free bar all night should Tony ride the winner on Saturday.
AP McCoy has managed over 3000 career wins but has managed to avoid winning the Grand National in his career but hopefully on the horse Don’t Push It (currently at odds of 25/1) it is one of the favourites to do well if not win.
A spokesperson for Paddy Power said, “This looks like the year that Tony will finally break his Grand National duck and if he does I can personally guarantee there won’t be a sober soul in Liverpool this Saturday night.”
Click here to visit the Paddy Power website
Paddy Power refunds punters following Thierry Henry cheating Ireland out of World Cup
November 19, 2009 by mbates
Following the dramatic ending to the Republic of Irelands World Cup campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where they lost the games due to a blatant handball by Thierry Henry, the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power have today refunded over £110,000 to punters who had backed Ireland to qualify for next years finals.
A spokesman for Paddy Power said “Luck of the Irish me arse! Not only did FIFA change the rules to protect the big teams, but then we drew France and that dirty little thief Henry cheats us out of a place in the World Cup. After all that we’re only too happy to put our hand in our pocket and hopefully ease some of the pain for our patriotic punters.”
The handball is not the first time that FIFA have courted controversy over the qualifying campaign, as when the draw for the play-offs was imminent FIFA announced that they would be introducing a seeding system for the draw which would make sure that the four teams with best records in recent tournaments would be drawn against the least successful teams for the play offs. This was condemned and accusations were thrown against FIFA that they were more motivated by finance and politics than fair play. It was suggested that FIFA wanted to ensure that the larger teams made it through to ensure higher viewing figures which in turn bring in more revenue from corporate sponsorship.
Football Association bans players involved with betting scandal
July 23, 2009 by mbates
The English Football Association has charged four players for breaching its code of conduct relating to betting on a match they were involved with. The match in question was the Accrington Stanley vs. Bury League Two match in May 2008, the incident was brought to light by suspicious betting activity surrounding the match.
Three players who were at the time playing for Accrington Stanley (Mannix, Harris and Williams) (were accused of betting that their opponents would win the outcome of the match, one Bury player (Mangan) was also involved but had bet that his team would win.
Nicholas Stewart QC, Chairman of the Regulatory Commission said “FA rules restricting betting by players (and others) on matches or competitions in which they are involved are vital to ensure public confidence in the integrity of football and the absolute straightness of all football matches”.
One further case against Peter Cavanagh will be heard at a later date.
| Player | Team | Fine |
Football Ban |
| James Harris | Accrington Stanley | £5,000 | 12 Months |
| David Mannix | Accrington Stanley | £4,000 | 10 Months |
| Robert Williams | Accrington Stanley | £3,500 | 8 Months |
| Andrew Mangan | Bury | £2,000 | 5 months |
Ladbrokes open betting outlet in Madrid
April 30, 2009 by mbates
Ladbrokes the UK based sports betting company has opened its first dedicated betting shop in Madrid under the Sportium banner, it is a joint venture between Cirsa and Ladbrokes. The plan is for the Sportium brand to open and operate 125 outlets by 2010, this will encompass dedicated betting shops and concessions in Arcades and Bingo Halls.
A spokesman for Ladbrokes said “The opening of our first exclusive shop in Torrejon de Ardoz is the latest step in the successful roll out of Sportium’s sports betting service in Madrid.”
Sportium was created in early 2007 as a 50-50 joint venture between Ladbrokes and Cirsa, the business compines the betting expertise of Ladbrokes with the market knowledge of Cirsa Slot (Spains leading slot machine vendor) with the aim of expanding from Madrid into the rest of Spain.
Sports Relief get one of its first large donations for 2010 campaign
April 29, 2009 by mbates
The sponsors of this years World Championship Snooker tournament Bet Fred are to donate £147,000 to Sports Relief following the maximum 147 break achieved by Stephen Hendry in his match on Tuesday at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, the last prior recorded professional 147 break belonged to Ding Junhui in the Maplin UK Championship in December 2008.
Sport Relief’s Head of Fundraising, Karl Reynolds said “We are thrilled that Stephen Hendry’s skill has potted Sport Relief an amazing £147,000. A big thank you to Stephen and Betfred for one of the first donations to Sport Relief 2010.”
The founder of Bet Fred;Fred Done said: “It’s fantastic that Sport Relief are receiving the £147,000 donation and I’m delighted that it was a true snooker legend in Stephen that made the 147 break.”
Suspicious Betting pattern reported to the FA by William Hill and Blue SQ
April 27, 2009 by mbates
UK bookmakers William Hill and Blue SQ have reported some betting irregularities on the Blue Square Premier game between Grays Athletic and Forest Green Rovers. Grays won the game 2-1 after being 1-0 down and then scored twice in 50 seconds to win the game.
Both of the companies reported that they had seen large wagers on prior to kick off, “We saw a most unusual betting pattern on this match involving a large number of requests for bets on Grays to be losing at half time and winning at full time. The odds for that eventuality were cut from 22/1 to under half of that price yet still people wanted to back that outcome,” said William Hill spokesman, Graham Sharpe.
Both companies closed the book on the game and have chosen not to payout on the match until they have heard back from the Football Association.
2009 Budget brings bad news for bingo industry
April 23, 2009 by mbates
Alistair Darling unveiled the 2009 Budget yesterday and initially their were cheers from the UK Gaming Industry as campaigners for the abolishment of the ‘unfair’ VAT bingo were rewarded when the news that the participation fees for bingo would no longer be subject to VAT. However as the Government gave with one hand it quickly took with the other and then some by announcing that bingo gaming duties would rise from 15% to 22%.
As well as the rise in gaming taxes, the UK government also increased amusement machine licence duty to all categories of gaming machines which will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2009. These increases will bring in an estimated £55 million to the government off setting the £50 million it was going to lose by scrapping bingo VAT.
A spokesman for Rank, one of the largest Bingo companies said “This change has been imposed without prior indication or consultation. In Rank’s recent meetings with HM Treasury there had been no discussion of increases to taxation for bingo or poker,”
