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Betting


Betfair is putting its money where its mouth is by investing in a seven-figure marketing campaign informing


punters about the value it provides.


MARKETING B


etting exchange Betfair has launched a new Europe-wide marketing cam-


paign calling out its com- petitors and challenging them on the value that they offer their customers. The above-the-line activity, with a seven-figure budget span- ning the initial three months, will compare the betting exchange’s indus- try-leading prices to those of the online and traditional bookmakers.


The value-led campaign, boasting the strapline ‘Don’t Settle For Less’, was rolled out across TV, print and online media at the start of the month. The ‘value’ message will also be reflected in customer- facing communications. The first 30-second racing television advert was broadcast on Boxing Day during Channel 4 Racing’s coverage of the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park. But the much bigger push across other sports is now live and includes direct price comparisons against named competitors such as William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet 365 and Paddy Power, and will see the campaign repli-


Betfair launches million pound value marketing campaign


cated across other broad- cast and print platforms. Betfair’s UK managing director Peter Marcus said: “This is a simple campaign delivering the clear fact to both existing and potential customers, that Betfair offers far better value than the other bookmakers. The catchy, bold creative draws compar- isons with our competitors and demonstrates how Betfair consistently offers better prices than the rest of the industry. When cus- tomers see how different our prices are they won’t want to bet with anyone else.” The company has also launched its next genera- tion iPad App into the Apple store. The bespoke native application is a marked enhancement from previ- ous products and is the first to come out of Betfair’s development office in San Francisco, where the company has recently relo- cated key parts of mobile


development under the leadership of Raj Vemula- palli, who was recruited from Yahoo!


The App offers a vastly improved iPad experience to Betfair customers, bring- ing fixed website function- ality to a betting product that is specifically tailored to the tablet device. Its key features include an intuitive landing page, with easy access to the most popular events along with live scores and a trader focused betting experience, with betting functionality mir- roring that available on the fixed website.


The app also provides seamless access to Betfair’s betting.betfair site, which includes insight and analy- sis from Betfair’s content team and ambassadors, and the ability to deposit and withdraw funds from any- where within the App- enabling easier betting. Vemulapalli commented:


“This App is a game-changer for our customers, offering them a seamless betting experience that replicates the fixed web, whilst making use of the unique features available on iPad. Mobile is the coming force in the betting industry, and the shift from online to mobile is in many ways more exciting than the shift from offline to online.” Tony McAlister, chief technology officer at Betfair, said: “Mobile is increasingly important to Betfair’s bottom line and product launches such as this are now key strategic mile- stones. In addition, the fact that this App was developed in just two months out in San Francisco shows that our decision to launch a US tech- nology office in Silicon Valley is already paying off. I hope this is the first of many US developed products which will extend our lead in the online betting space.”


ANALYSIS


Betfair claims to be the betting industry leader on mobile devices, and this iPad release comes against the backdrop of dramatic growth in mobile revenues last year. Around 10 per cent of Betfair’s exchange activity is now conducted via mobile phones and this figure is set to rise even further. Betfair said that it had seen over £800m of bets traded through mobile in six months, enabling the company to record first half mobile revenues of £9m, up 88 per cent. The company has seen that mobile usage leads to an increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and also that mobile customers have lower than average churn rates.


Fortuna launches licensed Polish online betting POLAND F


ortuna zakłady buk- macherskie has become the first book- maker that will offer legal online betting services to Polish clients after being granted a licence by the country’s Ministry of Finance.


Jan Stefanek, CEO of Fortuna, commented: “Offering sports bets via the internet is a key issue when it comes to the presence of Fortuna on the Polish market. For several years, Fortuna have been success- fully providing online betting services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We


expect great interest in this distribution channel among Polish customers. We believe, the Polish players, who from now on will be able to bet online with legal bookmakers, will use this opportunity, thus will not be subject to fines for betting with bookmakers operating illegally.”


Payments related to online betting in Fortune service will be done through online transfers equally secured as e-bank transfers. Transactions will be made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through accounts in all important


12 BettingBusinessInteractive • FEBRUARY 2012 banks in Poland.


Stefanek added: “The most important advantage of online betting with Fortuna - apart from of betting in a convenient way and absolutely in line with law - is simplicity and guar- antee of payment of any winnings. Additionally, unlike the foreign book- makers, operating in Poland illegally - betting participants will be able to easily and effectively submit any complaints.” The amendment to the Polish Gambling Act, which enables Polish bookmak- ers, legally operating on the


domestic market to offer fixed-odds betting services online, came into force on 14 July 2011.


Fortuna started the preparatory process of online betting launch in September 2011. It includes registration of already sub- scribed and brand new users to the Fortuna website, followed by opening an online account for online betting purposes. To fulfill the registration process, each subscriber will provide up-to-date per- sonal details along with the ID number (by the PESEL number), enabling age veri-


fication. Before the launch, Fortuna had attracted 20,000 registrations. “More than 20 000 sports fans and betting enthusi- asts have show interest to participate in legal fixed- odds betting,” Stefanek commented. “The fact that our clients acknowl- edge the advantages of betting with Fortuna is extremely important to us. We guarantee secure services which are run in line with the Polish law and subject to tax, hence we expect fans of fixed- odds online betting will prefer to play legally.”


BETFAIR HAS REVAMPED ITS IPAD INTERFACE


Ladbrokes moves into position for US


USA L


adbrokes has become the latest bookmaker to position itself for the potential opening of the US gambling market with an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Stadium Technology Group - a Las Vegas-based supplier of software and in-game betting applications to sportsbook operators. Stadium supplies its inno- vative, licensed technology to a number of sportsbook and third party suppliers in Nevada and Delaware. The deal sees Ladbrokes enter the US market at a time when a number of states are explor- ing liberalising gambling. Casinos that use Stadium


software directly or through third party suppliers include: Atlantis, Cosmopolitan, Crystal Palace, Golden Nugget, Hard Rock, M Resort, Palazzo, Treasure Island and The Venetian. Ladbrokes chief executive


Richard Glynn commented: “The size of the US market and potential for positive regulatory change in the coming years make it a sen- sible place to establish a presence. Stadium Technol- ogy is already one of the key software suppliers to casinos in Nevada and Delaware and it has the potential to expand.” Ladbrokes initial invest- ment to acquire a 65 per cent majority stake in the busi- ness is US$3m (£1.9m), with a retained option to buy the remaining 35 per cent of the business over the next five years on a performance- related basis.


Only last year William Hill went to America on a shop- ping spree acquiring Brandy- wine Bookmaking, a land-based sports betting operator in Nevada and Delaware, American Wager- ing and the sports book divi- sion of Club Cal. Betfair already has US interests in the shape of TVG, while both Sportech and Stan James have also made acquisitions of US betting operators in recent years.


deregulation


RICHARD GLYNN: ‘IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO EXPAND’


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