Ladbrokes Could Pay £1m To Punter

Ladbrokes punter is ready to scoop the maximum £1million jackpot if Red Merlin wins the Ebor Handicap at York later this month. The mystery punter is waiting on the final leg of his treble having seen Laa Rayb and Genki win last week at Glorious Goodwood.

He now has £84,500 running onto his 12/1 selection Red Merlin in the Ebor which would make him £1m richer.

Ladbrokes spokesman David Williams said: “Both we and the punter are set for a fortnight of sleepless nights. He’s on the brink of a life-changing win and we’re staring down the barrel of a record breaking payout. It’s a recession-busting type of a bet and if Red Merlin hits the front in the final furlong at York we’ll be in a whole world of trouble.”

The £250 win treble was placed last month by telephone.

Ladbrokes Moves To Gibraltar

Ladbrokes follows its rival William Hill in moving its web betting to Gibraltar. This move will save one of leading British bookmakers around £7m per year.

Ladbrokes will retain its call centre operations for telephone betting in Britain.

The cost-cutting move comes after the bookmaker announced that its pre-tax profits went down by 3.9% to £131.3m over the last six months.

Chief Executive Chris Bell said trading conditions had worsened since May but the company was still aiming to meet full-year expectations. He added that the bookmaker is planning to sell its Italian retail business and had received some expressions of interest.

On the positive side, Ladbrokes said it had 12,500 new eGaming customer sign-ups – bringing its total to 249,000. It also announced that it will launch a new betting website by December.

Carling Signs Sponsorship Deal With Irish Premiership

Beer company Carling has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the IFA. Carling will bring in £80,000 each year, making it the biggest financial investment in Irish Premiership history.

“Carling is a brand with a fantastic football pedigree and one that’s done so much for the sport,” said IFA president Raymond Kennedy.

He added: “We are confident that the brand will be more than just a title sponsor and we welcome their input and assistance in helping us to develop not only the Premiership but football in Northern Ireland.

The Irish FA required a new sponsor after JJB Sports made a decision not to prolong its one-year deal. Nevertheless, JJB Sports will remain as Irish Cup sponsors for another two seasons.

Ladbrokes will continue to sponsor the Irish League Championship.

William Hill To Move Offshore

Ralph Topping, William Hill chief executive, mentioned that the bookmaker would be moving its telephone and internet operations offshore.

“We face worldwide competition from 400 or so English-language betting websites. In these circumstances, clearly we do not have the luxury of being parochial about our future or taking a simplistic stance on complicated issues,” Topping told the Financial Times.

Topping mentioned that the competitive pressures it found itself under were behind the bookmaker’s decision to close 20 betting shops in the UK this year and to freeze the pay of 16,000 staff.

According to figures released by the Racecourse Owners Association, the UK government could lose up to £45m a year in taxation if the three leading UK bookmakers, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral, relocated their online and telephone businesses offshore.

Suspicious Tennis Betting

Some of top online bookmakers suspended betting on a tennis match involving Spain’s Oscar Hernandez and Austria’s Daniel Köllerer on Monday.

Both players were priced as 5-6 joint-favourites, but bookmakers saw a surge of money just before the start for Hernandez that pushed his price in to 1-5 favourite. Hernandez won 6-3, 6-2.

William Hill and Ladbrokes stopped trading this match after they noticed “unusual” money. Unibet and Expekt mentioned they stopped taking bets before or early in the match. Betfair noticed the same trend, but did not stop trading.

The tennis authorities have already launched an investigation into this match.