£1m winner on the 49s in Dumfries
Stuart Smith has become Scotland’s first betting shop millionaire after predicting all six numbers of a 49s afternoon draw. He placed the bet on the industry’s own lottery event, which had a £1 stake, at a local Ladbrokes betting shop in Dumfries. Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “He’s lived the dream of every small-stakes punter in the land. It’s one of the most incred- ible episodes we’ve ever known. We’re thrilled to bits for him and hope he enjoys his massive jackpot.”
OFT looking at a handful or Tote shops
COMPETITION The Office of Fair Trading
SPORTS CLAIM THAT GAMBLING OPERATORS PROVIDE NO FUNDING
ing for betting right
sport across Europe, the Sports Rights Owners free-riding’ on their events.
iser while the regulator, ARJEL’s approval must subsequently be obtained. In some cases, where no agreement has been reached, no or only few operators eventually offer bets on certain sports events. As a result, the offer becomes less competitive and attractive for con- sumers leading to them turning to the black market. This has the oppo- site intended consequence with the reduction in the income of sports event organisers, and jeopardis-
ANALYSIS
The SROC submission has been labelled as disingenuous by some. At one point its states IOC president Jacques Rogge has labelled gambling as the ‘biggest threat to sport’ when Rogge actually said: ‘Cheating driven by betting is undoubtedly the biggest threat to sport after doping’ - which is substantially different. In its own submission to the Select Committee, William Hill appears to have summed up the argument quite pithily in one sentence: “There is no direct link between bookmakers and grass roots sport and sport should not be allowed to use the important issue of integrity in sports betting as a Trojan horse to try and secure additional revenue streams from bookmakers.”
ing fraud control since there are even less online sports betting operators to monitor the events particu- larly in less popular sports and sporting events.” It added: “It is detrimen- tal to less popular sports as they force betting opera- tors to concentrate their investments and resources on the more popular sports with more business and pay-out potential such as premium tennis and foot- ball.”
The firm also points out that such a right does not
tackle the illegal betting market and that the cost of such a right to legal opera- tors actually encourages the consumer to seek out higher risk, unregulated sites with little or no con- sumer protection. Bizarrely, the SROC claims that corruption has no link to black market betting. It said: “Many sports including horserac- ing, football, rugby league, tennis, cricket and snooker, have had issues in recent years where the root of the corruption is financial gain
through legal, regulated betting markets. It is a false- hood to talk in terms of ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’. Cor- rupters do not make dis- tinctions, and such terms are an insult to nations who have their own laws and cultures on betting.” At least SROC is not just trying to tap the gambling industry for funding - it also believes that the gov- ernment should put its hand in its pocket, citing the fact that it contributes £8m a year to anti-doping measures.
(OFT) has announced it is going to look at the deal which saw Betfred acquire the Tote Organsiation, but it is a low level investigation concentrating on competi- tion at a local level.
The OFT has its sights on 21 shops in particular where it believes local competition might be compromised. These sites are in Seven Kings, Pendlebury, Wythen- shaw, Brownhills, Cotting- ham, Leigh, three in Liverpool, Hastings, Lincoln, two in Wolver- hampton, High Wycombe, Truro, Rusholme, two in Pontefract, Cosham, Kirkin- tilloch, Blackpool, Shanklin and Kirkby.
The last time the OFT investigated the betting shop sector was during William Hill’s takeover of Stanley Leisure, when it judged two shops within 800m of each other, or where the number of opera- tors in an area drops from three to two, uncompetitive, and ordered Hills to divest 79 shops, most of which, ironically, went to the Tote. The fact that only 21 shops have been cited from the Tote’s 550-plus LBO estate underlines what a good fit it made with the existing Betfred business.
In compliance with the investigation, Betfred has agreed to a series of under- takings with regards to the overlapping LBO business and must get written per- mission from the OFT if it wants to make any integra- tion plans or even sell on some of the affected shops.
In fact, the undertakings could feasibly slow down the integration of the two businesses as Betfred will have to keep the technology and systems in the overlap- ping LBOs untouched and supplied with pre-merger levels of support in case the company is advised to take action. The OFT is also to be ‘actively informed’ of any material developments relating to the overlapping LBO business, including key staff movements, changes to normal trading times, substantial customer volumes won or lost and substantial changes in the contractual arrangements or relationships with key suppliers for the overlap- ping shops. Betfred has been keeping
on the Totesport tradition of sponsoring racing events since the £265m acquisi- tion. Since the deal was completed in June, the bookmaker has announced sponsorship deals for races at Glorious Goodwood, the newly renamed Betfred Ebor at York, and has found its name attached to the Cambridgeshire, the Cesarewitch and the Sprint Cup.
The company has also developed the Betfred Autumn Double which will carry a bonus of £100,000 this year to any stable which provides the winner of both the Cambridgeshire and Cesarewitch. The bonus will be split two ways with £50,000 going to the winning trainer and £50,000 split amongst the stable staff in the yard.
BettingBusinessInteractive • SEPTEMBER 2011 3
ACTION IMAGES / STEVEN PASTON
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