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 |
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.
Betfred signs deal with Turf TV
April 22, 2009 by mbates
Customers at Betfred stores are now able to watch live horse racing from virtually every racecourse in Britain after the bookmaker signed an agreement with Turf TV for coverage to be broadcast in all of the companies 800 shops. The deal includes courses such as Newmarket, Aintree Newbury and Cheltenham.
The deal will initially see Betfred sign a five year deal with Turf TV, speaking of the agreement the boss of Betfred, Fred Done said “I’m very happy that an agreement has been reached with Turf TV. My customers will be delighted that they can now look forward to watching every race, every day, in all my shops.”
Bet Fred to sponsor World Snooker Championship
April 14, 2009 by mbates
The Gibraltar based online and store fronted company Betfred have confirmed that they will be the main sponsors for the World Snooker Championship for the next four years. The tournament will be now be known as Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.
The new deal has arrived just in time for this year’s televised event which starts on Saturday April 18th through to Monday May 4th at the world famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The tournament last year was featured on the BBC receiving over 127 hours of coverage and was viewed by over 24 million people. The event also received coverage on Eurosport and CVTV5 in China where it attracted an audience of 10 million viewers.
Fred Done, chairman of Betfred said: “It’s always been an ambition of mine to sponsor a World Championship and this is a competition with so much history. When it comes to snooker this is the pinnacle of the sport and I look forward to watching the world’s greatest 32 players.”
The World Snooker Association has been looking for a new main sponsor since August of 2008 when the previous sponsors 888.com pulled out of 5 year deal 2 years early citing difficult economic climate as its reason for withdrawing.
