Cannes Festival Betting Heating Up

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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.

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Blue Square Put on the Market by Rank

January 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Blue Square, the online sports bookie division of the Rank Group is currently running at a loss, partly due to the sports betting market being highly competitive.

Rank purchased Blue Square in 2003 and the company has approximately 120,000 patrons which is a small portion of the group’s income and continual market advertising is required in order to generate revenue. A huge marketing campaign worth £2 million increased revenue at Blue Square by 19% recently.

A proposed new tax regime that is due to take effect in 2014 is bound to see small sports betting operators such as Blue Square’s revenues to decline. Although operators such as Paddy Power, Betfair, Ladbrokes and William Hill will also feel the pinch it will not be to the same extent as smaller operators such as Blue Square.

Blue Square has, therefore, been put on the market by its owner, casino operator Rank who said that it would “undertake a review” of the business.

It is understood that Rank has begun early discussions with certain parties to sell Blue Square as the group would like to consolidate and focus its efforts on its casino and bingo brands, Grosvenor Casino and Mecca. Rank, like other operators, is completing a £205 million deal to buy Gala Coral’s casinos. The Competition Commission is due to hand down a ruling on potential monopolies in a few cities in the United Kingdom that would be created by the deal in February, 2013 but Rank officials appear to be pretty certain that the deal will be approved.

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Two Tap Mobile Betting Introduced by Paddy Power

January 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

UK based Paddy Power, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing online bookmakers, has announced that it now enabling punters to place a wager with just two touches of the screen with their updated betting app.

Paddy Power’s new 2 Tap Bet Placement feature is being described as the fastest single bet placement in mobile sports betting and has resulted in the number of steps taken to place a mobile bet being reduced dramatically.

Punters will find that pre-events bets can now be placed within 3 to 4 seconds which has been reduced from the previous time of 16 to 20 seconds while the time taken for live betting has been reduced from 20 to 25 seconds to 6 to 8 seconds.

The only thing left for punters to do in the punting process is to follow two steps which are to choose a selection and then to tap the “Place Bet Now” button that appears on the screen.

According to a message on the Paddy Power blog, the online bookmakers will be saving their customers thousands of hours of time each month. The blog also read that it is up to punters to use these extra hours to help dolphins or merely to sit around in their pants.

Paddy Power has also made another change to the app that will see a player’s most recent stake become their default stake.

Paddy Power was formed following the merger of three Irish bookmakers in 1988 and is currently one of the top three bookmakers in the U.K.

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Baby Fever Attracts Betting Action at Bookies

December 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Betting fever has increased since William and Kate announced that they are expecting their first baby and there is no sign at top online sportsbook sites that the betting will be letting down. Bookies appear to be adding markets very fast and these will no doubt increase further as more information about the pregnancy becomes known.

UK bookies offer Royal Specials sections covering markets that include the next Monarch, the Sex of the First Baby, The Time of Birth of the First Baby, The Hair Color of the First Baby, Multiple Births, The Weight of the First Baby and the Name of the First Baby.

Irish sports betting group, Paddy Power, is offering markets on four other celebrity babies besides its huge royal baby betting markets.

Customers at Paddy Power can wager on the pregnancy of Wayne and Coleen Rooney with odds of 9/1 that the baby will be named after her mother (9/1 on Coleen), 10/1 on Wayne, Thomas and Colette, 12/1 on Anthony and 16/1 on Molly and Lola. Odds are 100/1 on Everton, Trafford, Christiana and Ferguson and 500/1 on Shrek.

Despite the fact that Robert Pattinson and Kristin Stewart have not even mentioned a coming baby yet bookies are already offering odds on the name of the first child born to them.

Bookies have also opened markets as to the year that Lady Gaga’s first child will be born and although David and Victoria Beckham already have four children, they may possibly have a fifth and customers can already bet on the baby’s name, place and year of birth and sex of the baby at Paddy Power.

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Paddy Power Chosen as Official Betting Partner for Welsh Rugby Union

November 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Online and land-based Irish sports betting operator, Paddy Power, has signed a deal to serve as the official betting partner for the Welsh Rugby Union.

One of the key factors in the Welsh Rugby Union’s decision to pick Paddy Power as its official partner is the fact that Paddy Power is very enthusiastic about the game of rugby.

In terms of the two-year agreement Dublin based Paddy Power will strive to provide Welsh rugby fans with unrivalled value and offer them fun and exciting promotions every time the Welsh teams play.

Craig Maxwell, Head of Sales and Marketing for the Welsh Rugby Union, reported that Paddy Power has a distinguished reputation in the United Kingdom and the Welsh Rugby Union is thrilled to welcome it as their official betting partner. Maxwell added that like the Welsh Rugby Union, Paddy Power is an identical brand in its field. This together with Paddy Power’s love of rugby is the reason that they chose to join up with the Company and that they are eagerly looking forward to a successful partnership.

Paddy Power has announced that it is currently running an exciting promotion to coincide with the launch of the new partnership. The sportsbetting operator will be awarding all new customers who place a minimum bet of ten pounds at the site with a bonus valued at $20.

Rory Scott speaking on behalf of Paddy Power said that they are very excited to be working together with the Welsh Rugby Union as the official betting supplier. Scott added that they share lots of common values that include passion and commitment.

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