Hilton Group's Ladbrokes betting division has stepped forward to into the vanguard of betting's future. The company launched two new Internet betting sites and a series of partnerships with new media companies this week.
"The series of U.K. partnerships we are announcing today will enable Ladbrokes, the world's leading betting group, to reach a far wider and more affluent audience," Hilton Group CEO Peter George said.
Among George's announcements was the launch of two Internet sports betting sites. Bet.co.uk, a content rich site initially offering football betting for UK customers (with an introductory tax-free offer), debuted this week. (The company will review the tax-free betting offer March 31.)
Servers are located in England, which has no license for virtual betting services. (A review of gaming laws is scheduled to begin this year.) While company officials aren't nonchalant about the issue, one source said the company will "stay in the letter and the spirit of the law."
"Bet.co.uk is for people who like sport, but don't necessarily understand the difference between 6/4 and
4/1," explained Chris Bell, managing director of Ladbrokes. "With bet.co.uk they don't have to. It is not the
equivalent of a betting shop on-line - which is the route other bookmakers have taken - these are new products for new audiences."
Meanwhile, Ladbrokes.com--due to go live next week--will be a multilingual, multi-currency, permanently tax-free international service based in Gibraltar, already home to Ladbrokes' international tax-free betting call center. The site will initially be available in four languages--English, Cantonese, Italian and Spanish-- with more languages to be added this year.
Ladbrokes.com targets highly knowledgeable bettors and offers a comprehensive range of sports bets including football, horse racing, greyhound racing, golf, tennis, American football and specialist bets.
"The success of the call center in Gibraltar in signing over 7,000 customers around the world since October clearly demonstrates the potential of tax free betting with the world's biggest name in betting. Ladbrokes.com will enable us to grow that business exponentially, " Bell said.
"Within weeks, we'll enter a new era of betting when we launch our interactive digital TV service, and we are already working WAP technology to bring betting to mobile phones and other wireless mobile devices," George announced. "Leading with new media advances will enable the Ladbrokes brand to reach more of the 70 percent of adults who play the National Lottery, compared to the current six percent of the population who use betting shops."
Ladbrokes will first offer an interactive betting service via Open, the digital satellite interactive TV service backed by British Telecommunications, British Sky Broadcasting, HSBC Holdings and Matsushita
Communications. Ladbrokes' Open site will offer simple bets, as a way to attract new punters who wouldn't
ordinarily place a bet, explained Ladbrokes public relations manager Sean Boyce.
Another agreement between Ladbrokes and Cable & Wireless Communications will bring betting to
CWC's 70,000 digital subscribers who access interactive services. Betting services commence next quarter
and will be available to CWC franchise areas by summer.
A similar agreement with Telewest will deliver interactive betting to Telewest's cable customers via "Active Digital" TV, Internet and phone services. The service, which begins next month, may draw as many as 500,000 customers for Telewest by the end of 2000.
Both CWC and Telewest cable customers will be able to access fixed odds betting opportunities on
numerous events. Meanwhile, an exclusive deal was signed with Two Way TV, to offer interactive betting to digital cable customers. This deal allows Ladbrokes to be the first and only bookmaker to offer betting via Two Way TV. Ladbrokes is also developing 'betting at the speed of thought' services that would allow viewers to be on events as they happen.
A deal with Ericsson will offer Ladbrokes betting services over WAP (wireless application protocol) mobile phones. Testing on the service will begin soon. Similarly, discussions are underway to provide betting services for the next generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System handsets, which will enable multimedia services to be delivered to mobile devices.
"Betting and gaming through the multiplicity of media channels available to customers around the world is set for explosive growth," said Bell. "Ladbrokes, the world's biggest name in betting, is now on the way to being number one for interactive betting and gaming and all the possibilities the new media future presents."
Ladbrokes International is also working on an Internet casino, which it hopes to launch this year. A
spokesman told IGN that even though Gibraltar only licenses virtual bookmakers, the company hopes to receive licensing for a virtual casino in Gibraltar. A casino software provider has yet to be chosen.
Editors note: Gibraltar has only licensed one online casino site, Cesares.com, which donates its proceeds to charitable causes. "The Government is not generally making available licences in respect of betting on financial markets, casino games, lotteries and bingos on the internet," explained Tito Gomez with the Gibraltar Office of Financial & Development Secretary.
"The Government is only licensing a very limited number of bookmakers and these licenses are very difficult to obtain," he added.