Agenda
Ante Post: What the bookies say
If it’s not football or racing, then it appears to be reality TV that gets punters licking their lips in November.
A
s autumn turns to winter, the National Hunt season kicks firmly into top gear, with the big weekend meetings at Cheltenham, Ascot, Haydock, Newbury and Sandown
set to host some of jumping’s biggest names. Paul Nicholls has yet to win the Paddy Power Gold Cup, but his Mon Parrain was the early favourite to fill that gap in his CV, while a couple of weeks later, his trainers’ championship rival, Nicky Henderson, is set to unveil his stable star, as Long Run begins his campaign in the Betfair Chase. With five of the Premier League’s big guns still in the competition at the quarter-final stage, turnover on this season’s Carling Cup should be up on previous seasons, while new title favourites, Manchester City, will be looking to build on their extraordinary 6-1 win at Old Trafford. Finally, reality TV fans have the delights of Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor to brighten up the dark evenings, and here’s one punter hoping Jason Donovan continues to shine on the dance floor!
DAVID STEVENS Head of PR Coral
The media will tell you that the biggest sporting event next year will be the London Olympics, but bookmakers will tell you the biggest betting event will be the European Championships. The final line-up will be confirmed with the championship play-offs this month and the Republic of Ireland have been given a great opportunity to reach the finals by being handed, on paper, what looks to be the easiest of all assignments; a match up with European novices Estonia. Trapattoni’s men are rated 4/9 red-hot favourites to rest the ghosts of Thierry Henry’s
handball in the last play-off, but would you be taking such short odds?
The jump racing calendar final comes alive in November with some mouthwatering racing at Newbury in the Hennessy meeting and over at Cheltenham in the Paddy Power with the high- light the Gold Cup. The Paul Nicholls-trained Mon Parrain heads the betting after impressive performances at Aintree and Sandown last term and looks the one to beat.
NIGEL SEELEY PR Spokesman Bet Butler
Without doubt the ATP final at the O2 arena will see Unibet serving up a few aces. Unibet always looks forward to this end of season highlight to the tennis season, when the best of the best come to London for the three set smash outs. We are hoping that Murray can make the final as Unibet prides itself on its tennis offering and this occasion won’t be missed to present our forthright opinions to the market. The weekend of the 20th will be of great inter- est as it sees the world’s two top leagues feature top of the table clashes. Real Madrid travel to the former Unibet sponsored Valencia and Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge to play an ever improv- ing Chelsea. Our odds compliers will no doubt be a stand out price on one of the match odds lines in these matches and take the punters on. The Champions League will provide its high level interest across Europe to the business but the big match of interest is the AC Milan v Barcelona match. It possesses many ques- tions and will be a maze for the punters. However, Man Utd face Benfica in a very impor- tant three points for the red devils. In normal circumstances United should go top of group C but with the injury list growing it may well
My Diary: Garth Kimber
One of the things Garth Kimber enjoys the most about my role as the head of e-gaming development for the Isle of Man Government is that it’s so varied.
O
ver the next month I’ll be doing three inter- views and Isle of Man
features for the gaming press and, of course, we’re also working on the build up to ICE which will be upon us very soon. A core part of my role is to
ensure that we offer a com- petitive and commercial reg- ulatory environment that won’t harm any of our other established industries. A key part of this is a weekly
catch up with Steve Brennan, the director rf Reg- ulation where we ensure that we are aligned.
My development team will be organising a couple of itineraries for visiting clients during the month. We try to ensure people get the maximum value from spend- ing time here and we usually find they leave impressed with what the Island offers and the willingness of local companies to help. This is in
46 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2011
addition to numerous meeting, phone calls and emails with companies all over the world that are inter- ested in the Isle of Man as a potential home for their business.
Home is unusually quiet just now after my wife and I recently ‘deposited’ our eldest at university for his first year. Downtime is spent walking the dog on the beach or hills, or revolving around my daughters many
and varied sporting activi- ties and spending too much time with friends at my local pub. The line between on and off duty is blurred at times as inevitably I’ll bump into a number of people from the industry there or be on the phone to someone in a com- pletely different time zone. My team and I always try and fit in lunch together once a month and we’ll also be attending the e-Gaming summit organised by KPMG
be a time to take on United at home.
ADAM ROLAND Spokesperson
Unibet.com
The National Hunt season really comes into its own in November with several high profile meetings, starting with The Open at Chel- tenham. Punters can be assured of Cheltenham Festival clues aplenty over the three days and some top notch offers too with our Price Promise Offer ensuring they get the best price on all the TV races. The following weekend sees the possible return to action of last season’s Gold Cup winner Long Run in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, and he could again lock horns with Kauto Star in what would be a race not to be missed. The Hennessy at Newbury is always a competitive handicap and this year’s renewal will be no exception - we’re currently betting 10/1 ‘the field’, which includes the promising Time For Rupert.
Champions League now and both Man United and Man City recorded important victories last month - Aguero’s very late strike was particu- larly painful for us - and they now face Benfica and Napoli respectively on Matchday 5 (22-23). We’ll be hoping they get turned over of course but, whatever the result, turnover is expected to be through the roof, and especially In-Play when we will have at least 67 markets available. Pre- match punters are well-catered for too with our Bore Draw Money Back Offer – have a correct score, half-time/full-time or scorecast bet on any match and we’ll refund all losing bets if the game finishes 0-0!
NIGEL RIDGWAY Affiliates manager – sports
bet365.com
LISTINGS SIX MONTH BRIEFING
NOVEMBER 7 Remote Gambling Association AGM, Savoy Place, London
10-11 US Online Gaming Law 2011, Las Vegas 10 Business in Sport & Leisure Conference, Lords Cricket Ground, London
18-19 iGB Espana, Melia Avenida America, Madrid
23 Sport and iGaming Conference, Pinsent Masons, London 15-17 e-Gaming Foundation Course, Hamblin Offices, Douglas 29-30 International Gaming Law Summit 2011, Le Meridien Picadilly Hotel, London
DECEMBER
5-6 Digital Gaming & Lottery Policy Summit, Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Washington, DC 25 Christmas Day
JANUARY
23 International Casino Conference, West Brompton Conference Centre 23 Totally Gaming Awards, 8
Northumberland Avenue, London
23-24 Legal Gaming in Europe Conference, Bullet Business 24-26 ICE Totally Gaming, Earls Court, London 24-26 ICE Gaming Leaders Programme 24 Combating Cybercrime in Gaming, West Brompton Conference Centre 24 World Regulatory Briefing, West Brompton Conference Centre 24 Multi-Channel Lottery conference, West Brompton Conference Centre 24-26 European Amusement & Gaming Expo, Excel London 25 CRM & Retention for Gaming, West Brompton Conference Centre 25 Integrating Offline & Online Gaming, West Brompton Conference Centre 25 Fire & Ice
26 Mobile Gaming conference, West Brompton Conference Centre
locally. This is a good oppor- tunity for the industry to get together in one place, take stock and plan for the future. All in all - not a quiet month but it never is!
26 Monetising Social in Gaming, West Brompton Conference Centre 26 ICE Interactive Lottery Lunch, Thames Suite, Earls Court, London 26-29 London Affiliate Conference, Old Billingsgate
31 TV Bites Back - Westminster Media Forum Keynote Seminar, London
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48