Stanley Leisure Issues Earnings Warning
Shares of Stanley Leisure dropped 25 percent following the release of a profits warning on Wednesday, but had bounced back slightly by the end of the week.
The Liverpool-based bookmaking company saw its share price get back 2.5 percent of the losses on Thursday. Starting at 279.5p, from Wednesday's opening price of 367.5p, shares climbed to 290p at lunchtime but fell back to end 7p up at 286.5p.
London brokers Schroder Solomon Smith Barney were among those demonstrating confidence in Stanley as the market opened on Thursday, though it cut the target price dramatically from 450p to 350p.
The only surprise expressed by a number of analysts was that there had been any surprise at all at the profits warning, allowing that most bookmakers took a battering at the Cheltenham Festival and on the Lincoln Handicap.
Stanley chief executive Bob Wiper put forward a run of spectacular wins by horseracing punters as part of the reason for the warning, but said that profits would still be ahead of last year's £37 million.
Tiger Odds-on Favorite to Make History at the Masters
Many online sports books targeting U.S. players find themselves at the beginning of a down time for their sites.
The conclusion of the NCAA men's basketball tournament through the start of the NFL season typically marks the slowest period of the year for operators, but that doesn't mean there won't be any business.
The NHL and NBA start their playoffs and MLB will warrant some betting. The rise in popularity of Tiger Woods means more and more punters will be looking to have a flutter on golf action.
Woods will try to make history and become the fist player in history to win his third straight Green Jacket at the Masters. Many online books are offering bettors a chance to get behind Woods. BetWWTS is offering Woods as an overwhelming favorite at 7/5 odds. Ernie Els, placed at 8/1 odds, is the leading candidate to give Woods a run for his money.
BetWWTS.com also created numerous betting propositions on how Woods will fare at the Masters, including: if Woods will lead after the first round, what Tiger's best round will be, what Woods' best and worst round score will be.
Arena Leisure Announces Plans for Racino
Britain's first racecourse casino will be built in Wolverhampton as part of a massive £10 million prestige development at Dunstall Park. Ian Penrose, managing director of Arena Leisure, said Tuesday that an agreement with Gala, one of England's largest gaming companies, to jointly develop the 35,000 square-foot "racino" had been reached.
The racecourse is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2004. Under current law, Wolverhampton may be the only racecourse in the country where such a project could take place. Casino operations are only permitted within city or town center areas. Because Dunstall Park Racecourse is so close to the city center, it falls within the legal area for a casino.
Survivor Props Pulled after CBS Employees Caught Betting
BoDog Sportsbook & Casino of Costa Rica was forced to take down proposition bets on which contestants would make the final pair in the reality TV show "Survivor 6."
The move came after it was discovered a group of CBS employees had been betting on the show for some time. Their current bets were refunded and the Survivor bets were pulled from the site.
BoDog spokesman Lance Bradley said the biggest payoff, $8,000, came on a $1,000 bet placed on the fifth "Survivor" at 8-to-1 odds.
The show narrows the field to two finalists in filmed competitions. The winner is unknown until other contestants choose him or her in a vote during a live broadcast.
When BoDog was tipped off to the possibility of betting fraud, its security department attempted to contact each player to determine whether they were wagering in violation of the BoDog Player Agreement, which forbids groups of people to wager as a syndicate.
To make matters worse, the increased action that was put on Jenna Morasca of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Matthew Von Ertfelda of Washington, D.C., to be the final pair skewed BoDog's odds so much that legitimate players were shying away from wagering.
OFT Rules Attheraces Contract Invalid
In a surprise move on Tuesday, the Office of Fair Trading ruled that the 10-year media rights agreement between the Attheraces consortium and 49 racecourses infringes the competition laws.
The OFT's findings on the Attheraces' arrangement have the potential to unravel the deal, which is due to deliver £307 million over the period of the contract for live pictures and other elements in a media rights package involving all but 10 of Britain's racecourses.
The contract was referred to the OFT as a matter of course by Attheraces and the Racecourse Association in November 2001.
An OFT spokesman told Reuters that the deal means collusion between tracks.
"The preliminary view is that the joint sale of rights by 49 racecourses has anti-competitive elements," he said, "on the grounds that it reduces competition between racecourses and increases the price at which they can sell their rights."
BHB Chief Unhappy with OFT
Greg Nichols, chief executive of the British Horseracing Board, warned of a potential "free-for-all" in British racing the findings published by the Office of Fair Trading this week are fully adopted.
Nichols said the BHB will spend until June 24,the deadline for responses to the OFT report, preparing a written response.
The response will, according to Nichols, be based on the argument that the current structure of British racing ensures the integrity upon which the sport's income depends and that British racing as a whole is the "producer" of the profit-generating product and not, as the OFT reports, Britain's 59 racecourses.