UK online gambling related news

16.05.2008
UK soccer shirt sponsor shuns Asian approach
The short sponsor for Cardiff City FC, CommsDirect, claims to have turned down a GBP 500 000 offer from an Asian online gambling company to buy their advertising rights for the weekend's FA Cup final.

16.05.2008
Profits up for Ladbrokes
Reporting on business during the four months to April 30 this week, British betting group Ladbrokes revealed that operating profits excluding bets placed by "high rollers" rose 13 percent - mainly on a rise in soccer betting and a bigger take from gaming machines. Gross win was up 16 percent.

16.05.2008
UK land gamblinlg closure have a social impact
The UK newspaper The Guardian reported this week that the closure of a hundred land bingo clubs across the British Isles has had a social impact on older women players who had relied on the local bingo halls as a source of community activity.

12.05.2008
New UK bingo website launched
Britain's newest online bingo site launched this week, apparently managed by bingo players including Stephen Hare, who said: "Our whole team comes from people whose lives revolve around bingo, and we think we'll be able to offer an experience that reflects that. We want to build a community of people who think bingo is the best fun you can have."

09.05.2008
New games from Orbis
UK online gambling software and games developer Orbis launched its latest Games Package 13 this week, providing a variety of OpenBet Casino and OpenBet Fixed Odds Games.

08.05.2008
Online gambling creates another instant millionaire
Cryptologic-powered Littlewoods Casino.com was the venue for the creation of the latest instant online gambling millionaire this week when an as yet unidentified player hit a $1.3 million progressive jackpot on the "Millionaire's Club" slot in the early hours of the morning.

08.05.2008
Ladbrokes dig triggers Swedish threat
The traditional Swedish sense of humour was notably absent last week when, according to a report in iGaming Business, the Swedish state's gambling monopoly, Svenske Spel, threatened legal action against British bookie group Ladbrokes.

07.05.2008
Online gambling and Spanish operations shine for Rank group
The UK listed gambling group Rank plc appears to be pleased with it's start to 2008 in a statement issued this week. The land and Internet betting group has successfully adjusted to the smoking ban and new British gaming and advertising regulations, and has taken timely action to protect profits, a company spokesman said.

06.05.2008
Netplay on the move again
Martin Higginson, the energetic entrepreneur and CEO of the UK interactive television gambling firm NetPlay made another shrewd move this week, acquiring Sky Channel 848 as a stablemate for the already purchased 847. The new channel will be used for the launch of the company's new blackjack product "Live BlackJack," scheduled to air at the end of this (May) month.

03.05.2008
UK Gambling Commission enforcement chief departs
The UK Gambling Commission has announced the imminent departure of Andrew Lyman, a Director at the Commission responsible for Monitoring and Enforcement, who will be leaving shortly to take up a senior executive role with the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB).

03.05.2008
Online gambling study results released
The UK Gambling Commission has released its latest independent study results, presented by ICM Research. The omnibus study was carried out via a sample of 8 000 adults between June 2007 and March 2008.

03.05.2008
Skill gaming firm signs up top UK bookie
The respected UK bookmaking firm Stan James is the latest client to join the client list of the UK skill games provider GameAccount. The multi-year deal enables Stan James' online customers to engage in playing GameAccount's market portfolio of online games including Gin Rummy; Multiplayer Blackjack; and Backgammon.

01.05.2008
Land gambling giants clash over UK casino
The British founder of Sports Direct, Mike Ashley, is embroiled in a bidding row with Las Vegas gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson, according to reports this week in The Times.

30.04.2008
Casino.co.uk delivers the goods for Cryptologic
The acquisition of the online gambling portal Casino.co.uk by turnkey provider Cryptologic paid off this week as the earn-out agreement was completed, with performance exceeding expectations over the past six months.

29.04.2008
Another Queen´s Award for Betfair
Online gambling group Betfair has again been recognised by a Queen's Award for Enterprise - the second in its eight year corporate history.

29.04.2008
Good quarterly growth at Unibet
The Malta and UK based online gambling group Unibet published positive first quarter results this week, recording an increase in gross win revenues to GBP 31.3 million (2007 Q1: GBP 21.6 million)

27.04.2008
UK gambling companies fail to contribute to responsible gaming funding
Despite warnings last year and this that a lack of voluntary contribution could lead to compulsory government levies (see previous InfoPowa reports) many British gambling companies continue to hold back on contributing to funds designed to help problem gamblers.

25.04.2008
Comply or die whacks Will Hill´s quarterly results
The unexpected victory in the Grand National horse race by Comply or Die was a GBP 7 million setback for Brit bookie group William Hill plc earlier this year, wiping out all of its profits from the rest of the three-day Aintree meeting and taking some of the sweetness out of its quarterly results.

24.04.2008
Ladbrokes online media advertising to be handled by TBG
The London digital advertising and marketing agency TBG has been awarded the Ladbrokes account for all online media campaigns.
TBG will run search and display ads for all Ladbrokes’ online betting and gaming products, including online casino, poker, sportsbooks, bingo and games.

23.04.2008
Online gambling companies pulled up by UK advert control body
The United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority has taken exception to ads from gambling companies that it claims linked online gambling with increased sexual prowess. The Paddy Power and Intercasino ads will probably be withdrawn as a consequence.

16.04.2008
L&G revenues down
London listed Leisure & Gaming plc has released current results, revealing that its first-quarter gross profit declined to Euro 2.1 million euros from Euro 2.5 million a year ago, but adding that trading in the period was in line with expectations.

15.04.2008
ID verification sales going well at GB Group
The UK identification verification firm GB Group has issued a positive trading update on its financial year ended 31 March 2007, reporting that revenues grew 17 percent to GBP15 million.

14.04.2008
Jaxx sponsors the Scotts
Scottish Premier League football club Motherwell has signed a new two-year sponsorship deal with the German online sports gambling firm English subsidiary JAXX.com.

11.04.2008
Ladbrokes launches new "thrill buds" ad campaign
UK gambling group Ladbrokes has launched its latest campaign, a GBP 2 million initiative crafted by M&C Saatchi to promote the company's online casino.

11.04.2008
Record bingo jackpot hit by UK player
What is believed to be one of the highest ever online bingo jackpots - GBP 107 647 - was won this week at Bingo Gold.com by MarkJ, a player from Lancashire in the UK.

04.04.2008
A UK High Street comeback for Stanleybet
The Liverpool Daily Post reported this week that Stanleybet International could be about to make a return to High Street betting shop trading, quoting a company official.

02.04.2008
Acquisition a dynamite idea for Boss Media
The Swedish online gambling turnkey provider and software developed Boss Media has acquired UK games developer Dynamite Idea, which has supplied games to the likes of Ladbrokes and Unibet in the past. The acquisition extends Boss Media’s instant games portfolio based on Flash technology.

02.04.2008
Will Hill gets its Madrid license
British gambling group William Hill plc and its Spanish joint venture partyner Codere SA have been awarded a gaming licence by the autonomous Madrid regional authorities.

26.03.2008
Record (land) bingo win
In what is being claimed as the world's largest bingo win yet, a 38 year old cleaner from Lanarkshire, Scotland has collected a cheque for GBP 1.2 million....and is sharing her good fortune with her neighbour.

25.03.2008
NetplayTV launches Celebrity TV Bingo
The AIM-listed interactive gambling group NetPlay TV plc has secured a deal with both Jim Bowen, plus Cannon and Ball to join their host bingo presenter, Greg Scott for the launch of a brand new TV programme, Celebrity TV Bingo.

22.03.2008
Bingo launched at 32red
Popular online casino 32Red.com has launched its much-anticipated Microgaming-powered Internet bingo offering. CEO Ed Ware, says the launch follows that of mobile casino operations by the company with the goal of offering customers a diversity of entertainment options.

21.03.2008
Scots credit controller under investigation
Newspapers in Scotland are reporting that a telecom company worker has been accused blowing £1million of his company's cash playing Internet poker – allegedly at William Hill.

18.03.2008
NetplayTV wants Bingos.com
UK gambling entrepreneur Martin Higginson's fast moving NetPlayTV group has clinched another major deal, this one for Bingos.com in a conditional acquisition worth £6.25 million from Global Gaming Entertainment NV and Euro Gaming Ltd. A spokesperson for Netplay said that it is placing 40 million shares at 15 pence each to fund the acquisition.

16.03.2008
NetPlayTV boss talks to the Telegraph
Martin Higginson, the chairman and chief executive of burgeoning online gambling venue NetPlayTV, talked to the Telegraph newspaper this week on his plans for the business, revealing that television is a key element in establishing trust and branding.

14.03.2008
New stats on internet gambling in UK
In a January 2008 report, quoting statistics from Screen Digest, the global market intelligence firm OSK Research said UK consumer spending for online gambling is expected to increase from GBP 600 million in 2006 to GBP 1.6 billion in 2010.

14.03.2008
Unibet finance director moving on
London-based online gambling group Unibet has announced that Chief Financial Officer Ragnar Hellenius has decided to step down with effect from the end of March 2008. Henrik Tjärnström will be taking over as interim CFO.

14.03.2008
Bad news for land bingo
British land bingo operators saw little to celebrate and much to criticise in Chancellor Alistair Darling's budget this week, which maintained the controversial double taxation regime on an industry already reeling under public smoking bans.

14.03.2008
Betdirect sale impact 32Red numbers
The sale of the Betdirect sportsbetting operation has had an adverse impact on full year results for 2007 released by the 32Red online gambling group this week, the company says. Having racked up operating losses of GBP 6.7 million and a loss on disposal of GBP 7.3 million up to 10 December 2007, the sportsbetting operation was sold to UK bookie group Stan James for GBP 5.75 million in October 2007.

12.03.2008
Will Hill wins GBP 2 mill problem online gambling case
28 year old compulsive gambler Graham Calvert, who took UK bookie group William Hill plc to court in the hope of recovering GBP 2 million in gambling losses (see previous InfoPowa report) finds himself in even deeper financial trouble this week having lost his case, and been ordered to pay GBP 336 000 in legal costs.

07.03.2008
And two more campaigns from Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes is to embark on a further two TV advertising campaigns in the UK following the success of its first ever television ads in 2007. The first campaign, for Ladbrokes Bingo.com, will launch this week.