SkyBet Sees Massive Increase
SkyBet, the betting arm of the biggest satellite pay-TV operator, BSkyB, increased turnover by 22 percent last year, from £96 million to £117 million, according to figures released in the parent company's end-of-year results.
BSkyB's total interactive revenue went up by 17 percent, to £218 million, with Skybet increasing its total number of bets threefold over the period that ended in July, to more than 15 million, of which 12 million came through the interactive television platform.
SkyBet's gross profits - the amount left after paying out winning punters - went up by 14.6 percent, to £9.4 million.
SkyBet, which BSkyB purchased as Surrey Sports, took the rest of its bets over the telephone.
SkyBet will figure with Ladbrokes and BetDirect as the fixed-odds partners on the Attheraces interactive platform, which should launch any day.
WWTS Rolls out New Affiliate Software
BetWWTS.com, a leading offshore bookmaker for over 10 years, on Wednesday announced the launch of BetAffiliate.com, an affiliate program that's free to join.
The program supplies tools for sending visitors to participating member sites and converting those visitors into revenue-generating players. It also generates statistics intended to help affiliates make informed decisions.
BetAffiliate.com members receive up to a 20 percent commission for the life of the players they refer to participating gaming sites. All affiliates are provided with entry pop-up windows, entry pop-behind windows, exit pop-ups, Flash and .gif ad banners, text links, active scrollers, site reviews, HTML e-mails and press releases. Members are not required to download banners or any other promotional materials; all such materials are provided by the BetAffiliate.com servers.
Intertops.com offers odds on NFL coaches to get the axe
Keeping with its outside-the-box philosophy, Intertops.com on Tuesday week released the opening lines for the first NFL coach to get fired this season.
The NFL season will get underway in less than a month and Arizona Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis and Houston Texas top boss Dom Capers are the leading favorites in the race to be the first coach fired this season. Both coaches have been given 6-1 odds.
BetAndWin takes over Playit.com
Subject to routine legal and commercial considerations and approval by the supervisory boards of both companies, BetAndWin and Playit.com have reached agreement through which the former will purchase of 100 percent of the shares of the latter.
Founded in 1997, Liverpool-based Playit.com operates the sports betting site www.playit.com. For the year 2002, the company generated betting turnover in excess of EU20 million with profit after taxes of EU 0.7 million.
Playit.com is entirely owned by Scandinavian investors, and the main shareholder is one of Scandinavia's largest and most successful media houses, with annual turnover in excess of EU400 million.
Details of the impending acquisition will not be revealed.
Open Betting Smashed on Betdaq
As the top golfers around the world converge in New York this week for the final major of the year, the PGA Championship, officials with P2P betting service BetDaq said turnover for the British Open reached new highs this year.
The record high was hit after only the first two rounds of the tournament when more than £500,000 was matched on the exchange.
Bets on the Open ranged from £5 on Rocco Mediate at 300/1 to five figure bets on Tiger at 4.3, and Ernie Els at 9.3
BetDaq's Rob Hartnett said the British Open figures were in line with the rise in golf betting online.
"Over £20 million has been matched on golf this year, mostly on the PGA tour," he said. "The Open is the one European event however, where everyone wants to get involved. In outright terms for the majors we have a win market, a place market for the first five, top European, U.S. and rest of the world, all of which are traded in running, as well as a market without Tiger and a host of match bets, including the Irish head to head of Clarke and Harrington."
A New Face in the BetFair Management Team
Betfair, the world's leading P2P betting exchange, has announced the appointment of Julie Cooper as customer services director.
Cooper, 42, comes from the Financial Times Group, where she fulfilled the same role. Her first priorities are to help Betfair continue its globalization program and to formulate a new CRM strategy.