Betting
Samvo hoping to introduce café culture
Samvo has hit the high street with a bang - by offering all the latest technical innovations and content while also pledging 5 per cent of its profits to charity.
SAMVO A
new style betting shop has hit the UK high street with Samvo, previ-
ously known for its online operations, launching two ‘betting cafés’ in London. Designed to attract a younger, more affluent cus- tomer, the company antici- pates that the Samvo Betting Café will become a destination for players looking for a relaxed, stylish environment that’s a key change away from the current high street offer- ings. The LBOs were offi- cially opened last month by Hayley Turner and John McCririck.
Samvo senior marketing manager David Miller explained: “Traditional betting outlets can be diffi- cult places for casual and virgin gamblers to enter. We’ve tried to create an environment that feels as comfortable to a first time caller as to an experienced player. The Samvo betting cafés are great places to spend time, enjoy watching sports and place a bet on a wide variety of events. We’re hoping to grow the market by attracting new
players as well as, obvi- ously, enticing players away from our competitors. Being a boutique chain will allow us to shape the feed- back of our customers to create a more personalised experience”.
Samvo has opened shops in Camden and Hammer- smith with the pledge to donate five per cent of its profits from the betting cafés to selected UK chari- ties, as well as giving its cus- tomers an easy way to donate a percentage of their winnings. This radical step is part of a strategy to make gaming socially responsi- ble by giving freedom and choice back to local com- munities.
Miller said: “We have created a charity board here at Samvo HQ which will allocate funds to a selected shortlist each year. To cele- brate the opening of the Camden and Hammersmith cafés, we donated £1,000 to each of our special guests’ chosen causes: Greatwood and Headway Cambridge. This is reflective of the kinds of charities we will look to support - local and community trusts that can make an immediate and
direct impact to improve the lives of children and animals in the UK.”
Samvo said it is reinvent- ing betting both online and on the high street by offer- ing outstanding prices, service and maximum limits on all markets and that it is able to make this kind of low-margin, high- value offer due to its ‘world class’ proprietary software and systems. Boldly, it also promises to ‘never turn away a winning customer’. Miller added: “2011 was the year Samvo decided to step into the spotlight by launching its boutique chain of betting cafés and making improve- ments to its betting brokerage service samvo-
betbroker.com. Although we know that the macro- economic climate is chal- lenging to say the least, we believe that the UK LBO market has potential and will continue to do so. “We believe that UK punters are getting smarter all the time and wish to offer them football handicaps (in particular) on the high street. We will be running educational and awareness campaigns to explain how
HAYLEY TURNER AND JOHN MCCRIRICK OPENED THE SHOPS
Loyalty scheme cuts domestic Sky bill
SKY BET S
ky Bet has introduced a loyalty scheme which could blow away any
ANALYSIS
Boasting SIS, SIS+, Sky, Turf TV and even the new SIS virtual betting channel, alongside the latest technical innovations such as the customer information terminals, Samvo is aiming to make a big splash in the LBO market. David Miller pledged: “Samvo will continue to grow and improve in 2012. Our consumer site will shortly be rebranded with a stunning new UI and some significant improvements. The cafés will offer more live betting opportunities and exciting promotions and offers. Above all, we plan to be reactive to customer feedback and continue to innovate both online and on the high street.”
good the value is. Our betting cafés will be a perfect place to wager in this way - with HD Sky feeds in all outlets and live in- running markets on offer coming very soon.”
Betting terminals spread across Magarin S
SPAIN
panish gambling giant Codere Group has signed a deal with Matencio, an adult gaming centre operator, which will see the pair join forces in Valencia for the ‘joint exploitation’ of sports betting in the region for the next four years. Matencio has a diversified busi- ness that includes the operation of 60 gaming lounges and more than 3,000 AWP machines and is active in the hospitality sector and real estate development. In compliance with the new Sports Betting Legis- lation in the Region, Codere will install betting terminals in the numerous establishments. The intense activity of both com- panies following approval of Sports Betting Legislation in Valencia in June will result in the installation of about 200 terminals in existing
10 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2011
THE CHIEFS AT CODERE AND MATENCIO HAVE AGREED A DEAL
bars and of Betting Zones in 30 gaming arcades where no less than 60 terminals will be installed. The agreement between the companies will capitalise on signif- icant growth in betting on the Valen-
cian coast. The Matencio Group currently, under the Magarin brand and with Carlos Lax heading up the Alicante, Valencia and Castellon delegations, operates more than 1,200 terminals in this area alone and has extensive experience in the private gaming sector and cater- ing channel in the south of Spain. Meanwhile, Codere will bring its experience as a pioneer in Spain in sports betting since 2007, and to date, the only company present in all autonomous regions with more than 600 betting points in Spain and 200 in Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and Brazil. Matencio’s co-CEOs Antonio and
Tomas Matencio commented: “We expect very good results with this new agreement, which brings together experience in private
gaming and sports betting in Spain with the positioning and trajectory in the gaming industry in the Valen- cian community.”
Jaime Estalella, director of oper- ations for Europe for the Codere Group, added: “The joint work of both companies, with a long history in the private gaming sector, will drive this new sports betting market in Valencia in coming years.”
Under this agreement and in compliance with the regulations approved by the Generalitat Valen- ciana, both companies will work together until 2015 in the operation of betting terminals in bars and gaming establishments operated by the Matencio Group, expanding the current range of leisure options in the establishments.
similar programme in the industry. By teaming up with the company’s broadcasting arm, Sky Bet customers are now given the option of redeeming rewards including money off their Sky bill. Extensive feedback con- ducted by the bookmaker showed ‘money off your Sky bill’ to be the overwhelmingly popular choice of reward for loyal customers. Sky Bet cus- tomers are now able to choose between free bets or money off their Sky bill, with the ability to earn up to a maximum of £20 per month off their household expendi- ture across all of Sky’s prod- ucts - Sky TV, Sky Talk and Sky Broadband. Ted Moss, marketing direc- tor for Sky Betting and Gaming, said: “We are thrilled to be able to satisfy our cus- tomers’ demands for a bene- ficial and meaningful method of reward for loyal custom by giving them money off their Sky bill and we anticipate that the scheme will prove hugely popular.”
Customers opting into the scheme receive a loyalty stamp for each day they stake £10 or more on bets at
www.skybet.com and after collecting five stamps, they receive either a £5 free bet or £5 off their Sky bill.
Moss added: “Both Sky Bet and our customers are hugely excited by the unique, new loyalty scheme, which can’t be matched by any of our competitors. The scheme stands out against the myriad free bet offers, setting Sky Bet apart from the rest of the bookmaking industry whilst at the same time, it is easy to understand and redeem.” The other big brand to use a loyalty system across its verticals is Virgin, where cus- tomers can redeem ‘vpoints’ with luxury items such as flights. However, Sky Bet’s offer will appeal to the more pragmatic punter, especially given the propensity for sports bettors to sign up for one of Sky’s sports packages. The firm has been promot- ing the new scheme in its latest television advertising campaign. It has been running a mix of brand and direct response ads across sporting programmes and channels including Sky Sports and ESPN, including half-time spots during major football games since the start of last month. The fully inte- grated campaign will also run across channels including online, press, TalkSport spon- sorship, pub advertising and social media.
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