Ladbrokes Appeals Robbery Compensation Ruling

Ladbrokes

UK Sports Betting giant, Ladbrokes, has criticized a landmark decision by a country court ordering the group to pay a betting shop cashier traumatized by armed robbers during a robbery which took place at Ladbroke’s shop in Walsgrave Road, Coventry at 6.30 pm on 5th November, 2007.

Kerry Nicholls was working at the shop when it was raided by two masked men armed with a handgun. After pointing the weapon at her, Kerry was forced to allow the gunman to go behind the counter where he demanded money from the safe, leaving her hysterical and physically sick.

Kerry was awarded an amount of £9,000 by a Walsall County Court Judge last May after suing her employers, Ladbrokes Betting and Gaming Limited for compensation for her psychological injury.

However, Ladbrokes is challenging the ruling made by the County Court in May, 2012, and has lodged an appeal before Lords Justice Jackson, Tomlinson and Floyd in the Appeals Court. The appeal was lodged because the payout was awarded to Kerry on the basis that Ladbrokes had failed to provide the staff at the shop with a safe working environment and should have employed a magnetic locking system with external CCTV – controlled by staff – on the door of the shop after the hours of darkness.

Catherine Foster, on behalf of Ladbrokes, has attacked the judge’s approach to the evidence as “wrong” as the shop, although classified as a low risk shop, was fitted with more security than a low risk shop would be. Foster added that the manager undertook a shop specific risk assessment only one month before the robbery.

The three judges have reserved their decision on Ladbroke’s appeal.

Cannes Festival Betting Heating Up

One of the most prestigious events in the film industry’s calendar, the Cannes Film Festival, runs until Sunday, 26th May, 2013, when the winner of the Palme d’Or will be announced.

There has already been a high level of betting at UK bookmakers as punters speculate as to the winner.

Bookmakers such as Paddy Power, the Irish sports betting and online gambling giant, have given two films, the Japanese Like Father, Like Son / Soshite chichi ni naru (Hirokazu Koreeda) and the Iranian The Past / Le Passe (Asghar Farhadi), the lead.

Both films are on top of Paddy Power’s list of favorites to win the Palme D’Or at 5 / 2.

The Immigrant, which has a 1920’s New York storyline, follows close behind the first two films.

Despite the fact that Steven Spielberg has not had a movie at the Cannes Festival in decades, he will head the jury that will determine the outright winner. Nicole Kidman and Taiwanese contemporary filmmaker, Ang Lee, are also on the panel.

According to Robbie Collin, a film critic for the UK publication, The Telegraph, the makeup of the jury could possibly give punters a few hints regarding the types of films could win the Palme d’Or.

Collin added that it is very difficult to choose the best film so early on in the festival due to the fact that nobody has seen many of the films that are being screened, but by looking at the jury, one can draw some conclusions from the type of films you think they might enjoy.

William Hill’s CEO Extends His Stay

Ladbrokes

U.K.’s largest Bookmaker, William Hill, last week revealed that Ralph Topping, its current Chief Executive Officer, would continue leading the group until at least the end of 2015.

Topping said that despite the fact that he had expected to step down at the end of 2013, he would continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer of William Hill for another two years at least.

William Hill’s board is thrilled that Topping intends remaining with the group for the coming years while they continue examining options both internally and externally for a successor for the chief executive role.

Topping has spent 43 years with William Hill and took up the role of Chief Executive Officer during 2008. He was largely instrumental in William Hill’s push both online and overseas and recently spent in excess of 800 million pounds on deals. The deals included buying out William Hill’s online partner Playtech and rival gambling firm Sportingbet’s Australian operations.

William Hill’s shares have risen 74% in the past year and the group posted a rise of 8 percent in the first quarter operating profit in April resulting from a strong performance of its fast expanding online business.

The shareholders recently criticized Topping for having accepted a retention bonus of 1.2 million pounds with almost half of the group’s investors voting against the pay deal.

William Hill paid out total dividends of 7.5p per share in 2009 and increased the sum to 10.4p per share in 2012. Analysts are anticipating the dividends to keep rising and reaching 11.4p this year and 12.7p in 2014.

Paris Saint-Germain wins Ligue 1 title amid fans wild celebrations

Paris Saint-Germain

At last, PSG manages to take home the Ligue 1 title for the first time in last 19 years, and rightly so, its fans celebrated this victory in an unprecedented way; perhaps we should call it a violent way coz riot police has to call upon on the ground to control the situation and moreover, hundreds of fans were also affected due the unrest on the stadium which ran for almost hours after the match. As a result, the much deserving title has not been given as of yet coz of a possible points deduction coz of shoulder barging to referee by sporting director Leonardo. However, some reports are also suggesting that PSG should be slapped with a two matches’ ban which would not affect its position on the leaderboard coz it is already seven points ahead and just two matches are remaining. The victory is also a record breaking for former England captain Beckham who joined the club on a short term deal as he has now won four international leagues playing for four different countries – a first for any Englishman. Actually, the victory was overshadowed by the ferocity on the ground which became the headline of every sport’s news source putting a dent on PSG’s greatest afford to reclaim the trophy after 19 long years.

According to Paris police commissioner: Bernard Boucault, more than 30 peoples have been badly injured due to the disturbance which included three security force’s members too. He also added that more than 21 peoples have already been taken to the custody while investigations are still on to find out others who started using banned material to celebrate the triumph. On the other hand, PSG also issued a statement condemning these kinds of disturbance on the ground causing lots of discomfort to thousands of fans. It reads as, “Today should have been a day of celebration for the city of Paris, for the club, our fans and partners. The party was spoiled by a few hundred troublemakers who have nothing to do with football and even less with those that fill the Parc des Princes on match days with such passion and enthusiasm and in total security.

“All the members of the club, the players and the directors, express to all those loyal and passionate fans their heartfelt regret that today’s trophy presentation ceremony had to be cut short. The celebrations will continue this Saturday at the Parc des Princes for the Ligue 1 match against Brest, when the club and its fans will unite in the joy of Paris Saint-Germain’s first league title in 19 years.

Paris Saint-Germain is more determined than ever to build a huge European club, worthy of the French capital, and far removed from those intent on trying to destroy that dream.”

Rafael Benitez is on a hunt for another English club

Rafael Benitez

Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez has seen many ups and downs during his short tenure with The Blues, and despite his descent performance during this short spell, he could never be a popular manager among fans ever since he took over the charge from Roberto Di Matteo in November 2012. It is now confirmed that he will be discharged from his managerial duties after this season, hence he has started his hunt for another job with an EPL club probably. Though, he has kept open all the options, but England will be his first priority. Some of his noticeable achievements for Blues include Europa League final in Amsterdam against Benfica and second one is qualifying Chelsea for the Championship league by finishing on the top four at EPL defeating Aston Villa by 2-1 on Saturday. Normally, a manager with this kind of record doesn’t have to go all of a sudden, but he faced wide criticism over his failure in the EPL and more especially for his bold statements in the media which never let him become a popular manager among fans. Since he was appointed on interim basis, he had to go, but nobody had expected in such a way. Notably, he has won the manager of the month award for April and has also done some brilliant work at his previous clubs, hence finding a suitable placement should not be a concerned for him.

The face who is expected to take his place is fifty-year-old Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho who has also worked with Chelsea back from 2004 to 2007, though these are just rumors running in the media and nothing has been officially confirmed either by the cub or Mourinho. Talking about his new hunt for a respectable place in England, he said, “The Premier League is a fantastic league. My family still live in England, so it would be easier. If not, I will go abroad. There are two options for the future: to get a project, two or three years to build a team like at Liverpool; or maybe a top side with money, where you can buy some players and challenge for trophies from the beginning.”

He further added about Chelsea’s Championship qualification that “I am really proud, not just for me but for my staff and everyone involved because we have been working very hard from the beginning and you know that it was not the perfect environment. I remember in England some managers, with hostility in the stands, they couldn’t cope with this situation.”