Version: 03052003
Editor: Franka Pals
Publisher: Novamedia
Disclaimer: Novamedia disclaims all liability for information provided within the ”Novamedia European Gaming and Lottery Files”.The information is supplied by independent journalistic sources. No parts of these files may be reproduced in any form by print, photo print, microfilm or otherwise, or re-distributed electronically in any form without written permission from the publisher.
The UK, or its official name 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland', is an isle or – better – an archipelago, only connected by the Channel tunnel to the European Continent. Clockwise from the North the UK is embedded in the North Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel (where the island Alderney is located), the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea (where the Isle of Man is located). Not strange that Great Britain is -still- a great maritime power, which once stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface.
The UK is a member of the fifteen joined states of the EU, but is not – yet? – member of the European Monetary Union. The Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1999.
England swings. Famous names in the UK music industry are the Beatles, the Moody Blues, the Holies, the Rolling Stones, the Searchers, the Fortunes, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, the Tremeloes, the Honeycombs, the Spencer Davis Group, the Troggs, the Who,The Yardbirds, the Zombies, Them, the Tornadoes, Jethro Tull, Dave Clark Five, the Zombies, Manfred Mann, the Small Faces, Cliff Richard & the Shadows, etc. etc.
To balance the genderscale, just a littlebit, the following UK female pop singers should be mentioned: Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull, Helen Shapiro, etc.
Of course, you will say, those two lists of famous UK pop artists are not complete.And you are right of course. Here only are mentioned the well known names of the 60s. Music stars who were promoted by the famous 'pirate' radio stations.
Britain's first offshore radio station, Radio Caroline, began broadcasting at Easter 1964 from a ship anchored just outside UK waters. Radio London (Big L), was another very popular station which broadcast from a ship anchored three miles off the coast of Essex from 1964 to 1967. Many other 'free' or 'pirate' radio stations pop pep up broadcasting from boats and old marine structures dotted around the UK coasts. These pirates, which DJ's became national heroes, relayed from just outside the territorial waters and won an enormous and enthousiastic – young – audience over a big part of Europe.
The many offshore stations broke the monopolies of the public broadcasters and it created a very strong pop music industry, which became an important UK export product. And above that the phenomenon of offshore stations was a type of internet 'avant la lettre', with keywords 'freedom', 'communication', 'interactivity', 'no-legislation', 'offshore', 'youth activity', 'a hype', 'information', 'entertainment', 'live', 'interactivity', 'free market', etc.
There is another very interesting parallel that should be mentioned here, namely the developments of the TV broadcasting industry and the gambling industry in Europe. Both industries started as state monopolies and went through a long privatisation process. The national state owned TV companies, some 15 years ago, were the frontrunners and the British were the winners in opening up the state controlled markets. This accounts also for the UK development of a free gambling market, where the bookmakers were leading the way. In many European countries gambling is still a state owned activity (France, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland, etc.). Being the pioneers of European broadcasting and gambling industry did give a great lead to the UK companies operating in the field of TV and Betting industry world wide! In the meantime Britain became the international hub of interactive gaming.
One of the British figureheads is the London Stock Exchange, which became only in 2000 a public limited company: the London Stock Exchange plc. This prestigious UK financial institution dates back from 1760, when 150 brokers were kicked out of the Royal Exchange for rowdiness. They formed a club at Jonathan's Coffee House to buy and sell shares, which was, in 1773, named into Stock Exchange.
In 1914 during the first world war the Stock Exchange Battalion of Royal Fusiliers was formed – 1,600 volunteered, 400 never returned.
Now the London Stock Exchange plc is Europe's leading stock exchange. with more than 470 companies from over 60 countries admitted to trading on its markets.
| Population: | 59,778,002 (July 2002 est.) |
|---|---|
| Age structure: | 0-14 years: 18.7% (male 5,732,385; female 5,443,900) |
| Currency: | Currency: British Pound (GBP) |
| GPD | Purchasing power parity - $1.47 trillion (2001 est.); |
| Internet: | Penetration. Internet market ** |
| Telecom | Mobile market** Fixed line market ** |
The Government set up the Lottery in 1993, 4 and appointed a regulator to select and oversee the operator's performance. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for setting the policy framework for the lottery generally. This includes determining the role of the regulator, which is now The National Lottery Commission. This Commission is established as an executive Non-Departmental Public Body and is governed by the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 (as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998). It succeeded the Director General and the Office of the National Lottery (OFLOT) as the regulator of the National Lottery on 1 April 1999.
The Lottery is governed by the National Lottery Acts 1993 and 1998. They provide for a Lottery comprising a series of games, to be played by anyone aged 16 or more. The proportion of sales income to good causes goes into the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) to be shared amongst the distributing bodies. The National Lottery Commission (NLC) has no responsibility for income once it goes into the NLDF. The Government is not considering any change in this respect.
The 1993 and 1998 acts do not prescribe the design of the Lottery: it is for companies wanting to run the Lottery or promote games within it to develop their own proposals. So, for example, game design, prize structure and distribution mechanisms are all left unmentioned in the legislation. What the Acts do is lay down the control framework within which the Lottery is to be managed.
This framework recognises four key parties:
The Acts therefore envisage that the operation of the National Lottery will be in the hands of private sector companies. They provide considerable flexibility, at least in principle: there is no presumption that the section 5 and 6 licensees will be the same or different, or how many section 6 licensees there will be. However, the 1993 Act provides that any prospective section 6 licensee can promote a game within the National Lottery only under an agreement with the section 5 licensee. The NLC may not require that licensee to let in other companies.
During the first licence period Camelot had only one agreement with another company, when Vernons Pools were granted a section 6 licence to operate one game. It was not thought to be a success. Since then, Camelot has held all section 6 licences. There have been many such licences. Each new scratchcard game, for example, has had to have its own section 6 licence.
Under the terms of the second section 5 licence, Camelot has to develop and implement a strategy, subject to the NLC's approval, for encouraging potential applicants for section 6 licences. It remains to be seen how this will turn out.
1998 Chapter 22 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Part I: Provisions relating to the National Lottery
The Director General and the National Lottery Commission
Section
1. Replacement of Director General by National Lottery Commission. Licensees
2. Financial penalties for breach of conditions in licences.
3. Appeals against financial penalties.
4. Appeals against revocation of licences.
5. Access by Comptroller and Auditor General to documents etc The new good cause
6. The new good cause and the re-allocation of lottery money.
7. The New Opportunities Fund.
8. Provisions supplemental to section 7.
Distributing bodies
9. Manner of distribution.
10. Power of distributing bodies to solicit applications.
11. Delegation by distributing bodies of their powers of distribution.
12. Joint schemes for distribution of money by distributing bodies.
13. Strategic plans for distributing bodies.
14. The National Lottery Charities Board.Supplemental provision
15. Orders and regulations.
Part II: The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
16. The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
17. Objects.
18. General duty and powers.
19. Initial and subsequent endowment.
20. Solicitation of gifts and investment of money.
21. Financial directions etc.
22. Annual report and forward plans.
23. Accounts.
24. Exemption from taxation.
25. Interpretation of Part II.
PART III: Supplemental Provisions
26. Repeals.
27. Short title, interpretation, commencement and extent.
SCHEDULES
Schedule 1
Replacement of Director General by Commission: supplementary provisions.
Part I: Transfers etc.
Part II: Constitution of the Commission.
Part III: Minor and consequential amendments.
Schedule 2
The New Opportunities Fund: Schedule 6A to the 1993 Act.
Schedule 3
Joint schemes: Schedule 3A to the 1993 Act.
Schedule 4
The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
Schedule 5
Enactments repealed.
Part I: Enactments relating to replacement of Director General by Commission.
Part II: Other enactments.
The National Lottery Act 1998 may be obtained via www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980022.htm
The government's deregulation proposals for the UK's gambling industry are based on a report by Sir Alan Budd . A review by Sir Alan Budd was published in July 2001. The Government's response "A Safe Bet for Success" was published in March 2002 (www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/ archive_2002/safe_bet_for_success.htm).
This report was commissioned by the Home Office, but, following changes in departmental responsibilities after the General Election, it is being submitted to the Department of Culture Media and Sport.
The terms of reference are listed in chapter 2.
The last review of gambling regulation was carried out by a Royal Commission under Lord Rothschild. It took two years to produce its report, which was published in 1978.
www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/ archive_2001/gamb_rev_report.htm recommendations of the Alan Budd Report
introduction
Website: www.natlotcomm.gov.uk
The Director General of the National Lottery and his office, OFLOT, was set up in 1993. He selected Camelot Group plc as the operator of the lottery from eight bids. From April 1999 OFLOT was replaced by the National Lottery Commission. This was to ensure there is less risk, actual or perceived, of conflict of interests, and that a wider range of knowledge, experience, and expertise could be brought to bear on lottery regulation.
The National Lottery Commission's duties
The Commission's responsibilities, as mentioned in the Annual Report & Accounts 2001/2002, are governed by the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 as amended. Under Section 4 of that Act, the Commission has a duty to:
The Commission has the following functions:
In the role as independent regulator of the National Lottery, they ensure that the correct payments are made to the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF). The Commission has no responsibility for the distribution of grants from the fund; this is the responsibility of the distribution bodies.
The Commission is funded by vote from Parliament. Its net expenditure is recovered from the NLDF and licence fees.
Website: www. national-lottery.co.uk
21 October 1993: The National Lottery is established by an Act of Parliament. The first National Lottery in Britain, however, was run in 1569!
25 May 1994: Out of eight bids, The Director General of OFLOT announced Camelot Group plc as the chosen operator.
14 November 1994: National Lottery on-line tickets went on sale in 10,000 retail outlets - the world's biggest on-line lottery launch.
19 November 1994: First National Lottery draw - 22 million viewers tuned into the BBC show.
21 March 1995: Launch of National Lottery Instants which immediately became the UK's largest impulse brand.
26 September 1995: £1 billion (1.5 Err billion) raised for the Good Causes
6 January 1996: First double rollover - 66 Err million jackpot. Total rollover sales reached 186 Euro million.
17 March 1996: Launch of Lucky Dip - randomly generated selection of numbers for the on-line game.
5 February 1997: First mid-week draw, sales reached 48 Err million.
1 June 1997: Camelot raised its Good Causes target from £9 billion (13 billion Err) to £10 billion (15 billion Euro) by September 2001, due to The National Lottery's success.
4 February 1998: 500 (£) millionaires created.
7 June 1999: Camelot launched The National Lottery Thunder ball game.
1 November 1999: Big Draw 2000, a special Millennium Draw, is launched.
10 June 2000: 1,000 in £ millionaires created.
5 October 2000: Camelot raised its Good Causes target from £10 billion to £10.5 billion by the end of the first licence in September 2001.
13 November 2000: A twice-weekly, Jackpot only game Lottery Extra launched.
13 November 2000: Big Draw 2001, a special New Year's Eve draw, launched.
15 November 2000: First Lottery Extra draw took place. £1 million (1.5 million Euro) Jackpot.
19 December 2000: The National Lottery Commission announced that Camelot had been chosen as the preferred bidder for the second seven-year National Lottery licence, which began on January 27th, 2002.
31 December 2000: Big Draw 2001, a special New Year's Eve draw, took place.
10 April 2001: Camelot paid 167,297 Euro in compensation for losses to unidentified prize-winners caused by a computer software fault. Retailers who lost out also received compensation from Camelot.
11 September 2001: Camelot reaches £10.5 billion landmark for Good Causes.
31 September 2001: End of the first licence period.
1 October 2001: Start of the Interim licence period (Section 5).
5 November 2001: Tickets went on sale for Christmas Millionaire Maker, the special Christmas Eve draw.
27 January 2002: Second National Lottery licence begins.
21 March 2002: Commission published the outcome of its investigation into Camelot's handling of claims for prizes lost, stolen and destroyed tickets - resulting in repayment of 213,878 Euro to the Good Causes, which also benefited from the first regulatory fine on Camelot 14,547.6 Euro.
29 April 2002: Camelot announces plans to relaunch the Lottery including changing the names of the Saturday and Wednesday games to Lotto and Lotto Extra.
18 May 2002: First Lotto draw.
10 July 2002: Launch of Lotto HotPicks.
17 October 2002: Launch of mid-week Thunderball (first draw 23 October).
Website: www.gbgb.org.uk/lotlaw.html
Lotteries and The Law (GBL6 Publication, Oct 97).
The Gaming Board for Great Britain has prepared notes for the guidance of Societies and Local Authorities.
Introduction
(1) The National Lottery etc Act 1993 made significant changes to the Lotteries and Amusement Act 1976, the legislation regulating lotteries conducted in Great Britain by societies and local authorities . These amendments have, on the one hand , simplified, relaxed and clarified the rules applicable to lotteries and , on the other , improved the controls over an activity which can be susceptible to fraud. These changes came into effect on 3rd May 1994 with the exception of the requirement that lottery managers be certificated, which was effective from 3rd October 1994.
(2) These notes are intended to provide guidance for societies and local authorities proposing to promote lotteries for which registration with the Gaming Board is required (see paragraphs 14-15). They are not concerned with the National Lottery , regulation of which is the responsibility of the Office of the National Lottery.
(3) These notes attempt to provide a plain guide to the main requirements of lottery law. They are not comprehensive and should not be treated as such. The law is not straightforward and societies and local authorities planning to hold lotteries should refer to the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976, as amended and subsequent Regulations and Orders (obtainable from the Stationery Office Ltd) or seek professional advice to ensure that they conform with the law.
What is a Lottery?
(4) There is no statutory definition of a "lottery" but the courts , through judgments in the House of Lords, have established the following criteria:
Lotteries and Amusement Act 1976 (as amended)
(Pt 1, Sect.1)
(5) Under the Act , which covers only Great Britain , all lotteries which do not constitute gaming are unlawful, unless they are:
(a) small lotteries incidental to an exempt entertainment;
(b) private lotteries;
(c) society lotteries;
(d) local authority lotteries; or
(e) part of the National Lottery.
(Pt 1, Sect.2)
( 6) The Act prohibits the conduct of foreign lotteries in this country. A society or local authority lottery would not be lawful if tickets were sold outside Great Britain.
Lotteries Outside the Board's Jurisdiction
(7) This booklet is essentially concerned with society and local authority lotteries but it may be helpful to mention briefly the law covering small and private lotteries. The Board has no legal responsibilities for such lotteries, which do not need to be registered with any statutory body, and those seeking to promote them may therefore consider it prudent to seek professional advice if they are in any doubt about the legality of their proposals.
The other chapters are:
Statutory Instruments (1999 No. 1468) - Betting, Gaming and Lotteries
The Horserace Betting Levy (Bookmakers' Committee) Regulations 1999 (Made 25th May 1999, Coming into force 15th June 1999)
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 26(1) of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963, and after consultation with such bodies as appear to him to be representative of the interests of bookmakers generally, hereby makes the following Regulations:
(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Horserace Betting Levy (Bookmakers' Committee) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 15th June 1999.
(2) The Bookmakers' Committee shall consist of 12 members of whom
(a) two shall be appointed by Coral Racing Ltd.;
(b) two shall be appointed by Ladbroke Racing Ltd.;
(c) two shall be appointed by William Hill Organisation Ltd.;
(d) two shall be appointed by the Betting Office Licensees Association Ltd. to represent the interests of the members of that body other than those listed in paragraphs (a) to (c) above;
(e) two shall be appointed by the National Association of Bookmakers Ltd. from amongst persons nominated for the purpose by associations for the time being affiliated to the National Association of Bookmakers Ltd.; and
(f) two shall be appointed by the British Betting Office Association Ltd.
(3) The appointment of a member of the Committee shall be for a term of three years, but a person ceasing to be a member on the expire of his term of office shall not on that account be ineligible for reappointment.
(4) A person may be removed at any time from membership of the Committee by the body by which he was appointed.
(5) Where any vacancy occurs in the membership of the Committee, the body by which the person whose office has been vacated was appointed shall, as soon as practicable, make a fresh appointment to the Committee (that is to say an appointment for a term of three years).
(6) The members of the Committee shall appoint one of their number to be the chairman of the Committee and, subject to his remaining a member of the Committee, he shall hold office as chairman for such period as they may determine and shall be eligible for reappointment as such.
(7) Seven members present (or such larger number of members as the Committee may from time to time determine) shall be a quorum at any meeting of the Committee.
(8) The Horserace Betting Levy (Bookmakers' Committee) Regulations 1997 are hereby revoked.
Website: www.hblb.org.uk
Statute requires an annual Levy Scheme to be agreed by the Levy Board and promulgated to all bookmakers having a current bookmaker's permit, operating both on and off the racecourse, and according to which bookmakers' levy liabilities are determined. The Scheme is to be negotiated by the end of October to take effect from 1 April the following year.
Each year, the Bookmakers' Committee formulates proposals for the next Levy Scheme and these are forwarded to the Levy Board. In considering the proposals, the Board takes into account the funding needs of racing and the bookmakers' capacity to pay levy. Assumptions are made about the amount of off-course horse racing turnover, both cash and credit, which is likely to be achieved in the levy year concerned, since off-course betting accounts for the bulk of turnover on which the levy is raised. A Scheme is then agreed, which, if the assumptions are correct, should yield the forecast amount of levy.
In the event that agreement on the Scheme cannot be reached by 31 October, the Scheme is automatically referred to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for determination, and her decision is imposed.
Website: www.hblb.org.uk
The main function of the Committee is to recommend annually to the Board the categories, rates, conditions and definitions of the Levy Scheme for the following year and, if appropriate, to revise such recommendations in light of observations made by the Board.
The Committee was therefore in negotiation with the Board during Autumn 2001 on the terms of the 41st Scheme, which became effective on 1st April 2002 and will remain in place until 31st March 2003. In October 2001, the Government introduced a change in the basis upon which General Betting Duty is charged, moving from a tax on betting turnover to a 15% tax on bookmakers' gross profits. The principal reason for the change was a recognition by Government of the need to adjust the basis of taxation so that the UK betting industry could compete on the international market on equal terms with its overseas competitors. As a consequence, bookmakers immediately removed the 9% deduction hitherto charged on all bets which in turn led, as expected, to a sharp increase in betting turnover and thus to the levy yield during the second six months of the 40th Scheme which ended on 31st March 2002. The Scheme ultimately yielded £67.6 million from bookmakers, a 22.5% increase on the 39th Scheme which had yielded £55.2 million from the same source.
A major feature of the Committee's recommendations for the 41st Levy was therefore a proposal that the basis of the Scheme should be changed from a levy on horserace betting turnover to a levy on horse racing gross profits, thus bringing the basis of taxation and levy into line with each other. However, recognising that there was an expectation that the increased business which followed the change in GBD should render some benefit to racing, the Committee
recommended a scheme which would yield a further significant increase in levy over the 40th Scheme.
For a number of reasons the Committee's recommendations were not accepted and, in accordance with statutory procedure, the 41st Scheme was referred by the Board to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for determination. The Secretary of State announced her determination on 29th January 2002. It provided for a levy on off-course bookmakers' gross profits derived from their horse racing business at an overall average rate of around 9%, incorporating a flat rate of 10% on the most profitable shops and on both telephone and internet betting, with a graduated scale of lower percentage payments for the less profitable shops. There was no change to the basis upon which racecourse bookmakers were to be levied and their contribution was therefore raised in line with Headline RPI (1.6%) as usual.
Current estimates are that the 41st Scheme will yield around £86 million, a further 27% increase on the already record level achieved under the 40th Levy Scheme.
On 31st October 2002, the Bookmakers' Committee and the Levy Board agreed the terms of the 42nd Levy Scheme, which became effective on 1st April 2003. The Scheme is structured in the same way as the 41st Scheme although the threshold below which the less profitable betting shops pay a reduced levy has been halved to £75,000 horse racing gross profit. Furthermore, racecourse bookmakers will for the first time be assessed for levy on their gross profits rather than pay a modest fixed fee as hitherto. Also for the first time, the 42nd Levy will be assessed only on gross profits derived from British Horseracing, that is racing conducted in England, Wales and Scotland; overseas racing, including Irish racing, will no longer be included in bookmakers' levy calculations.
The 42nd Levy Scheme is expected to yield around £94 million, thus maintaining the upward trend in contributions to racing expected by Government as part of its reform of the betting tax regime.
BBOA: appointed by the British Betting Office Association
BOLA: appointed by the Betting Office Licensees Association
NAB: appointed by the National Association of Bookmakers
Note: The BBOA and BOLA combined to form a new trade association from November 1st, 2002, called the Association of British Bookmakers Ltd. (ABB). From January 15th, 2003, Warwick Bartlett has been appointed chairman of this new association that is the result of a merger between The British Betting Office Association and The Betting Office Licensees Association. The ABB represents all bookmakers, some 258 companies who collectively own 6,296 betting shops, call centres and Internet sites.
Besides being the chairman of the ABB, Warwick Bartlet is the well known founder and lead partner of Global Betting& Gaming Consultants (GBGC), a.o. the publisher of Global Gambling Report. Warwick Bartlett has been the chairman of The British Betting Office Association (BBOA), the precursor of ABB, since 1992. He adds the following information: "ABB represents all types of bookmaker, racetrack, shop, call centre and Internet.The ABB consists of the Big 5 bookmakers and numerous smaller independents and also racecourse bookmakers. However the NAB maintains its independence having decided not to join the ABB and the NAB mainly represents racecourse bookmakers interests, in fact this takes up 95% of their time.
Bet exchanges don't need a bookmakers permit, some have one others don't.They are not bookmakers, they are brokers so they cannot be members of ABB. We even don't think that they operate legally."
Website: www.ibas-uk.com
The Independent Betting Arbitration Service was formed in the autumn of 1998 with the approval and support of the industry (over 90% of UK bookmakers have registered with the service). IBAS is funded by Trinity Mirror and Satellite Information Services (SIS).
IBAS is a non-statutory service and its rulings are not enforceable in law. Registration with IBAS is in no way a guarantee of a bookmaker's financial strength or its ability to pay on winning bets.
Bookmakers who register with IBAS undertake to be bound by the rulings of its arbitrators. Failure to abide by an IBAS ruling would mean that a bookmaker had not honoured his obligation under the scheme - which would result in the bookmaker being publicly de-registered from the service.
lthough IBAS' website will be an important communication opportunity for IBAS, it is important to emphasise that arbitrating in betting disputes is the service's principal role, offering and delivering effective dispute resolution procedures in a modern, independent structure to customers of bookmakers registered with the scheme.
Website: www.camelotgroup.co.uk
Camelot is the operator of the UK National Lottery. It employs 950 staff who work from a head office in Watford, Hertfordshire and four regional centres across the UK. The objective is to maximise revenue for Good Causes and the Government through lottery games in the most efficient and socially responsible way.
Camelot is a private company, wholly owned by five shareholders; Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Royal Mail Enterprises, De La Rue Holdings plc, Fujitsu Services Ltd and Thales Electronics who each share a 20% stake in the company. Its full board comprises of a non-executive chairman, four independent non-executive directors, three executive directors and non-executive representatives from each of its shareholder companies.
As operator of The National Lottery, Camelot's role is only one role in the asymmetrical partnership of organisations responsible for running the different functions of The National Lottery as follows:
The lottery draws are protected by extremely high security. The draw machines, which are accredited by the British Standards Institution (BSI), are kept in containers with two security seals which can only be opened by the independent auditor and the draw manager. The draw machines are tested before the draw in the presence of the draw manager, independent auditor and The National Lottery Commission. Once the pre-draw checks are made the machines are kept under closed circuit television surveillance.
All lottery balls used in the draws are stored in sealed security containers. To ensure that no numbers have a better chance of being drawn, the balls are examined for uniformity by the Office of National Weights and Measures regularly.
In January 2002, Camelot installed a major new IT system to drive The National Lottery, which is probably the largest conversion in the lottery world. The system change was the result of a 12 month 131 Euro million project involving Compaq Computer, G-Tech and Deloitte & Touche, signifying the end of Camelot's VAX system deployed in the first lottery licence.
At the heart of the system is the Alpha platform, a renowned industry standard, which improves further on the advanced technologies Camelot put in place to create a very efficient lottery systems when the lottery was launched in 1994. The new mainframes have brought improvements to the system - although designed to manage three transactions per minute per terminal, the new system has the potential to process at a far greater rate. This will allow the 25,000 on-line terminals to cope with the future developments Camelot has in store for The National Lottery.
At present players can play the lottery via a retailer or by subscription, Camelot started to offer National Lottery games on the Internet and is planning mobile phones and Interactive TV during the second licence.
Scratchcards has been launched on the internet in February 2003 and the full lottery games will be available online by the end of 2003.
| Sales (in USD Millions) | 2001/2002 | 2000/2001 |
|---|---|---|
| National Lottery Game | 5,629 | 6,030 |
| Instants | 845 | 798 |
| Thunderball | 354 | 351 |
| Christmas Millionaire Maker | 56 | 37 |
| Lottery Extra | 184 | 70 |
| Easy Play | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 7,068 | 7,285 |
| Prizes won by players (incl. unclaimed prizes) | 3,227 | 3,535 |
| Payments to the NLDF | ||
| Ticket sales payment | 1,946 | 2,012 |
| Unclaimed prizes | 118 | 111 |
| Prize target shortfall | 152 | 133 |
| Ancillary activity income | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Interest from trust accounts | 7 | 10 |
| Other Miscellaneous payments | 1.5 | 0 |
| Total | 2,227 | 2,267 |
| Other payments | ||
| Lottery Duty | 848 | 874 |
| Retailers' commission | 363 | 370 |
| Retentions by licensees | 529 | 360 |
| Sales less prizes, ticket sales payment, prize target shortfall, Lottery Duty, other miscellaneous payments, ancillary activity income and retailers' commissions |
||
Money distribution:
Total ticket sales since the launch of the National Lottery is 35.9 billion till end of January 2002
The portfolio of National Lottery games includes two types of game available through retailers:
Draw-based games require the player to either fill in a playslip or choose to have their numbers randomly generated by purchasing a Lucky Dip ticket. The winning numbers are then drawn from the machine in a live televised draw.
Instants offer an alternative way of playing the lottery, with the chance of an instant win from a scratchcard.
As part of a long term strategy to develop The National Lottery via new media platforms, Camelot launched Instant Win Games on the internet in February 2003. The games are a mixture of innovative, interactive games and popular scratchcards and are available on the National Lottery website.
| No. of Matches | Winners | £s per winner | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Match 6 (Jackpot) | £3,333,334 | £10,000,002 | |
| Match 5 plus bonus | 4 | £240,416 | £961,664 |
| Match 5 | 641 | £937 | £600,617 |
| Match 4 | 30563 | £43 | £1,314,209 |
| Match 3 | 508805 | £10 | £5,088,050 |
| Totals | 540016 | £17,964,542 |
Complete the Lotto playslip as above - £1 (1.5 Euro) per play.
Lotto Extra was launched on November 13th, 2000. Since launch Lotto Extra prizes total £133.1 million; Lotto Extra has created 20 millionaires to date. Highest single Lotto Extra prize was £20 million (30 million Euro) on May 12th, 2001
| No. of Matches | Winners | £s per winner | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Match 6 (Jackpot) | 0 | £0 | £13,593,873 |
| Totals | 0 | £13,593,873 |
Additional Information
The first draw was held on Saturday 12 June 1999. Prizes total £523.2m since launch. 53,582,186 winning tickets sold since launch. 236 winning top prize tickets of £250,000 since launch
With HotPicks one can win prizes by matching fewer numbers. Simply pick 2, 3 or 4 numbers from 1-49, and match these against those drawn on the Lotto - Draws on Wednesday & Saturday.
Hit the Quackpot
This Interactive Win Game can be played at the National Lottery's website. Game Price: 50p. There is a 1 in 3.69 overall chance of winning a prize on each play of this game.
In playing this Game, Players acknowledge that it is a game of chance, that the outcome of a Play in the Game is predetermined by the Interactive System at the point of purchase, and that the winning of a prize in the game does not involve the exercise of any skill or judgment by a Player.
At the start of a Play an instruction panel will appear in the centre of the Game Play Window. The Player should read the instructions and press the flashing Play button. The instructions will disappear from the Game Play Window and five prize display panels will appear across the top of the Game Play Window.
Nine ducks will appear in the Game Play Window and the cursor will change into an aiming device (represented by four arrows pointing inwards). The aiming device moves around the Game Play Window, operated by the Player's mouse. The ducks will begin to move across the Game Play Window. The Player should align the aiming device with each moving duck; then as the aiming device changes from yellow to red, the Player should click the mouse to release a cork to knock over the duck and reveal a Play Symbol in place of the duck. When a duck has been knocked over the relevant Play Symbol will illuminate in the relevant prize display panel.
The Player should repeat this action until all nine Play Symbols have been revealed; (the prize display panel will be automatically updated as the Play Symbols are revealed). At the end of a Play, all nine Play Symbols will disappear from the Game Play Window and be replaced with a win or lose message, as appropriate and the Prize, if any, will be displayed.
The Player of a Play of this Game having three identical Play Symbols in one of the prize display panels shall, subject to the Terms and Conditions, be entitled to a Prize as detailed in the Table below:
Prize Amount |
Approx. odds (1 in x) |
|---|---|
| 50p | 4 |
| £5 | 50 |
| £50 | 1,000 |
| £500 | 50,000 |
| £5000 | 500,000 |
Only one Prize can be won per Play.
Pluck A Duck
Predict A Ball
Predict A Ball, another on-screen Interactive Instant Win Game, where one has to guess whether the number of the next ball drawn will be higher or lower than the one before. The balls are numbered from 1 to 49. The more you guess correctly, the more you win!
Holiday Bonanza
Holiday Bonanza has two versions: an on-card and on-screen version.
Plain scratchcards
Other scratchcards:
Instants were launched on 21 March 1995
Camelot has signed a letter of intent with the French lottery operator, La Francaise de Jeux and Spanish lottery, Loterias y Apuestas del Estado, building on the previous discussion between the three lottery operators.
This joint project to start up a common game will be marketed by each operator in its own country. In the United Kingdom and France the provisional name for the game will be "Euromillions", while it will be called "Euromillones" in Spain.
The launch is scheduled for the first quarter of 2004, subject to regulatory approval. After that date lotteries from other countries will be invited to join, subject to them meeting the standard requirements and obtaining suitable authorisation.
The game will be a Lotto type game, with the draw being held every week on a Friday night. The price of an entry will be two euros or its equivalent in each country's local currency.
Approximately 50% of the sales will go towards prizes, with approximately 12.5% of sales funding the top tier prize level. The amount allocated to the Jackpot is expected to be around 15 million Euros per draw and in the event that there are no prize winners that amount will roll over automatically to the Jackpot for the following week. It is planned that there will be 12 prize tiers with common funding and distribution so that players will receive equivalent prizes in each country.
While the prizes will be pooled, contributions to the Good Causes, lottery duty to government, commission payments to retailers and operating costs retained by the operator will be governed by the regulatory structure in each country.
* Source: William Hill
Underneath we are highlighting the top 5 UK bookmakers: Ladbroke, William Hill, Coral/ Eurobet, Stanley Leisure and Tote, and above that we will give information on some other bookmakers and one 'exchanger,' Betfair. Since there are so many bookmakers -and most of them are look-alikes- we are trying to focus as much as possible on different aspects.
Website: www.ladbrokes.com
Hilton Group is a global company operating in the hospitality and betting markets with the leading brand names of Hilton and Ladbroke. The group intends to enhance shareholder value by maximising its prime position in these international markets both of which are expected to experience significant long-term growth. Ladbrokes.com is part of Ladbrokes Limited, the betting and gaming division of Hilton Group plc.
Hilton's Betting and Gaming division also operates:
Ladbrokes has led the way in not only meeting the most stringent licensing criteria for these various legal jurisdictions, but also influencing the guidelines to promote higher standards for consumers.
Ladbrokes accepts all major debit and credit cards, including MasterCard and Visa, in all major currencies and also accept payments through PayBox, Western Union and by internet bank transfer. Ladbrokes.com does not charge a fee for credit card transactions.
Also Ladbrokes is affiliated to IBAS (Independent Betting Arbitration Service) and agrees to abide by its decision on any dispute that may not be resolved to your satisfaction. Placing a bet may take place over the telephone or, if one is in the UK or Ireland, by visiting one of Ladbrokes 2,000 shops. Another way to bet is via Ladbrokes Call Centre, which is open 7 days a week until 10:45pm GMT Monday to Saturday, and from 11:00am to 6:00pm GMT on Sunday.
Betting by Debit Card by using ones' UK bank debit card is also possible. The stake is taken directly from the player's bank account and winnings are returned at the end of each day. A deposit account with Ladbrokes using either a credit card, UK debit card, or by arranging a bank transfer or by sending a cheque can also be opened.
Alternatively, a player can apply for a Ladbrokes credit betting account.
1999 Hilton Group plc is a major international company with two operating divisions
1967 The group was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1967 with an initial market value of just under £1 million. Today, the group is one of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. It has a market value of approximately £2.5 billion, a turnover of around £5.5 billion and employs more than 77,000 people worldwide.
2002 Summary financial statement
|
2002 (£m) | 2001 (£m) |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | 5,479.0 | 4,161.8 |
| Operating profit* | ||
| Hotels | 212.1 | 255.3 |
| Betting and Gaming | 149.3 | 116.3 |
| Central costs and income | (13.3) | (12.4) |
| 348.1 | 359.2 | |
| Interest | (76.7) | (79.0) |
| Profit before taxation* | 271.4 | 280.2 |
| Exceptional charges before taxation | (46.3) | (28.1) |
| EBITDA* | 486.1 | 479.8 |
| Earnings per share* | 13.40p | 14.30p |
| Dividend per share | 8.92p | 8.92p |
* Before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items
** Like for like properties at constant exchange rates, including a full year of Scandic for comparability
Sir Ian Robinson, Chairman, commented: "The past year has been a difficult one in terms of economic and global uncertainties but I am pleased to report a solid performance by your Group. Hilton and Ladbrokes are both world-leading brands. They offer products, service and quality that will always be in demand.
"In line with our commitment given last November that we would maintain the full year 2002 dividend at no less than last year's level, we are recommending a final dividend of 5.52 pence.
"It is our belief that, in the medium term, our hotel performance will improve and Ladbrokes will continue to grow. We hold that belief because we know that both businesses are leaders in their sectors, developing fresh approaches, making innovations and responding to their customers' demands."
David Michels, Group Chief Executive, commented: "The Group experienced a year of mixed fortunes with betting doing well while hotels faced very trying conditions especially in Continental Europe. The inherent strengths of the brands remained intact, however, with Hilton and Ladbrokes both demonstrating their capacity to cope with rapidly changing and evolving markets.
"Particular credit is due to the Ladbrokes team, led by Chris Bell, which had a good year with the benefits of the zero customer tax regime and growing eGaming profitability, coupled with the upside from a number of innovative products and strategic investment in technology flowing through.
"Our £25 million investment in the EPOS system provided a technological backbone for our shop estate, which is being further invested in with a 3,500 unit customer self service terminal programme and new TV screen presentation and information. This further £20 million investment will be concluded this year.
"Within Ladbrokes, expansion is also internationally driven – but we have not had to leave these shores often to do it! In eGaming, helped by new product launches and improved presentation and service, our overseas business is growing and for the sportsbook now represents 46% of turnover. Ladbrokespoker.com is another good example. In under a year, without accepting bets from US citizens as players, we have established ourselves as one of the biggest sites in the world.
"Similarly, driven by new technology and customer service levels, our telephone betting business now takes calls and bets from over 35 countries.
"Our shop businesses in the UK, Ireland and Belgium are all continually being refreshed with acquisitions, relocations and refurbishments – we are always trying to bring a better service, environment and new ideas to the customer."
Websites: www.willhill.com, corporate.williamhill.co.uk
Founded in 1934, William Hill is one of the best-known names in the UK betting industry. It is one of the leading providers of fixed odds bookmaking services, offering odds and taking bets on a wide variety of sporting and other events.
William Hill has a nationwide network of over 1,600 shops, making it the second largest operator in the UK. The estate is of a high quality reflecting sustained investment. The scale of this network gives William Hill a competitive advantage in terms of brand recognition.
In the shops, customers have access to real-time sports information, coverage and results through satellite links. Sports betting is complemented by a range of numbers bets drawn on a daily basis and slot machines.
William Hill believes it is the UK market leader in telephone betting with a current market share of approximately 40%. William Hill has led innovations in telephone betting, having introduced free-phone and debit card betting.
Telephone betting operates from call centres in Leeds and Sheffield. William Hill has approximately 400,000 registered accounts including over 164,000 "active" customers (those who placed a bet in 2002).
William Hill believes it had the most profitable online betting operation of the major UK bookmakers in 2001. William Hill accepted its first bets on the Internet in 1998. Since then its online Sportsbook web site (www.williamhill.co.uk) and online Casino (www.williamhillcasino.com) have experienced significant growth in the UK and internationally.
The online Sportsbook now has over 485,000 registered accounts, including almost 130,000 "active" customers, and the Casino has over 110,000 registered accounts, including over 43,000 "active" accounts. Since launch they have attracted customers from over 150 countries.
Last year William Hill accepted bets on over 38,000 sporting events around the world covering 16 different sports.
Founded in 1934, William Hill is one of the best-known names in the UK betting industry.
It is one of the leading providers of fixed odds bookmaking services, offering odds and taking bets on a wide range of sporting and other events.
Highlights are as follows:
Website: www2.coral.co.uk
Coral Eurobet Ltd is the third largest and fastest growing off course bookmaker in the UK, with a national network of 870 betting shops in the sector, a highly successful internet betting business and a significant presence in telebetting. It offers a full range of betting and gaming services through these three distribution channels, as well as operating two of the UK' s leading greyhound stadia.
Coral Eurobet Ltd is located at the Company's Head Office in Essex. Coral employs almost 200 trained operators in its Telebet department. The company follows a stringent training process to enable the highest levels of customer service, and are recognised for our customer relationship management.
The website is translated in 17 languages. Betting is on all major international sporting events (Football, Tennis, Motorsports, Basketball, NHL, MLB, Horseracing and Greyhounds etc). Every week one can choose from at least 15,000 different events! The minimum stake is as little as £1.00 and there is no maximum stake. Eurobetcasino.com, is a 'no download', 100% secure, fast payout casino and brings all the casino games to the players' desktop, with 13 different games for fun or for real money, 24 hours a day.
Coral Eurobet's systems handle over 100 million secure transactions worldwide each year. Eurobet uses modern Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology on all web pages that contain personal information (personal details, credit card details, etc). SSL works by encrypting all confidential data so that it cannot be understood by anyone except Eurobet. Eurobet will not share confidential data with any third party.
Eurobet is regularly registered with IBAS (Independent Bookmakers Arbitration Service), the UK bookmakers' authority, which acts as independent third party in the event of any unsettled dispute.
Stanley Leisure plc is the largest casino operator in Great Britain, with 37 provincial casinos and three in London, including the prestigious world-renowned Crockfords.
Stanley Leisure is also the fourth largest operator of licensed betting offices in the British Isles, with a portfolio of over 600 Stanley Racing shops. The Company has pursued a focused policy of expanding its betting and gaming divisions through organic growth and a steady acquisition programme. Stanley Leisure is regarded as one of the companies best placed to take advantage of the forthcoming deregulation of the gaming and betting industries.
The 40 Stanley casinos are located in: Birmingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth,Brighton, Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Great Yarmouth, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Luton, Lytham St. Annes, Manchester, Margate, Newcastle, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Southport, Stoke-on-Trent, Torquay, Walsall, Wirral
Stanley Leisure was founded by its current Chairman Leonard Steinberg in 1958. The Company began trading as L. Stanley and operated two betting shops in Belfast.
Further expansion in Northern Ireland followed before L. Stanley moved into the English market in the 1970s, acquiring both betting shops and casinos.
The company moved its head office to Liverpool in 1979 where it is still based today. It continued to grow by acquisition at a rapid pace until 1986 when it floated on the London Stock Exchange. At the time of the flotation the Company owned 117 betting shops and 3 casinos.
Since its flotation, the Company continued to pursue its acquisition strategy with the aim of growing both its betting and its gaming divisions.
Today Stanley Leisure plc is one of the leading leisure companies in the UK and is part of the FTSE 250 index. It is the fourth leading betting company in Great Britain with over 600 licensed betting offices and the leading casino operator with 40 casinos including 3 London casinos.
For the Half Year to 27 October 2002
Highlights:
Gaming division
Betting division
Leonard Steinberg, Chairman, comments: "I am pleased to report the best half year results we have ever produced. Our London casinos performed extremely well while we continued to implement changes across our provincial estate. The introduction of new games and the refining of our food and beverage offer will deliver additional benefits in the future. We are also pleased by our betting division performance achieved in a generally tough environment. Overall, we remain confident."
After a reasonable start to the calendar year, the betting division has suffered from a series of unfavourable horse racing results, including the Cheltenham and the Doncaster Lincoln meetings. Whilst the Grand National outcome was similar to last year in Great Britain, this was not the case in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The combination of these circumstances has depressed profitability.
In the gaming division, performance has been more mixed. In the provinces, we have been equipping our casinos and changing staff practices in order to position ourselves appropriately in anticipation of forthcoming deregulation. Since the start of our fourth quarter, drop and turnover (house win) have been weaker across the provincial estate. Taken together, the additional costs associated with the investment in the estate and weak demand will lead to profits broadly in line with last year.
In response to the lower drop levels, headcount has been reduced, both on the gaming floor and in the food and beverage function, but the benefits of this action will only have a material impact in the next financial year.
Our London casinos have experienced normal levels of drop and turnover for this time of year. This has been offset by payment delays from a small number of our more significant players. Subject to the timing of the settlement of these collectables, the Board expects another very satisfactory performance from our London casinos.
In summary, whilst the Board remains confident of the prospects for the Group and still expects to report profits ahead of last year, these will fall short of current consensus estimates.
Stanley Leisure expects to publish its results for the year ending 27 April 2003 on Thursday 10 July 2003.
Website: www.bluesq.com
Blue Square was launched on 5th May 1999 and has fixed odds betting services on the Internet, Interactive TV, WAP and telephone and is one of the largest interactive betting services in the UK.
Blue Square was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Intercapital Group Ltd until January 2003 when it was acquired by Rank, one of the UK's leading leisure and entertainment companies. Rank Interactive Gaming Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of leisure and entertainment giant The Rank Group Plc (owners of Mecca Bingo, Grosvenor Casinos and Hard Rock Cafe - and famous for their 'gongman' logo). Blue Square will be integrated with Rank Interactive Gaming to create a major force in the on-line gaming market with a combined customer base of over 375,000 customers.
Acquisition considerations of Blue Square Limited were:
"Blue Square is established in its current form in 1999 and is owned by Intercapital Private Group Limited (83%) and Blue Square's employees (17%) (together "the Vendors"). Recognising the potential for on-line betting, the business has made a substantial investment in developing its products, systems and establishing the Blue Square brand. This has contributed to the market position now enjoyed by Blue Square, which in the twelve months to 31 December 2002, received total stakes of £202.0 million, generating gross win of £13.4 million. Blue Square has one of the largest active gaming customer bases in the UK with over 300,000 customers of which over 113,000 are active*.
The business has grown particularly strongly over the last year, helped by the introduction of telephone betting in October 2001 and the fixed odds games product in November
2002. The total amount staked in December 2002 was £24.5 million, an increase of over 150% compared with the same period the previous year. This strong growth has resulted in an improving EBITDA performance of the business during the twelve months to December 2002 as follows: Q1 £(1.2) million; Q2 £(1.5) million and Q3 £(1.2) million and Q4 £(0.1) million. The adjusted net assets of Blue Square as at 31 March 2002, the last audited balance sheet date, were £1.3 million, made up of fixed assets, primarily systems, of £4.0 million and working capital of £(2.7) million.
Following completion, Blue Square will be integrated with Rank Interactive Gaming ("RIG") to create a major force in the on-line gaming market with a combined customer base of over 375,000 customers of which 129,000 are active* via the internet, telephone, TV and WAP. Martin Belsham, the current Managing Director of Blue Square, will become Managing Director of the combined businesses.
Annualised cost savings of £5 million in the first full financial year have been identified and management is confident that additional revenue benefits will provide further opportunities for growth. The Acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing, before goodwill amortisation of approximately £3 million, in the first full financial year.
As consideration for the Acquisition, and subject to completion, Rank will issue £65 million in nominal value of unsecured loan stock, convertible into Rank Ordinary Shares at a price of 282p for every £1 of loan stock held. This represents a premium of 11% to the closing mid-market price of Rank Ordinary Shares on Friday 17 January, the latest practicable date prior to this announcement.
The loan stock, which will not be listed, will be convertible at any time on or after 1 October 2003 and will carry a coupon of 5% per annum. Interest on the loan stock will become payable on 31 December each year and, if conversion has not already taken place prior to 31 December 2004, the loan stock will be redeemed on that date at par. Full conversion of the loan stock would result in the issue of 23 million new Rank Ordinary Shares. On conversion, the new Rank Ordinary Shares will be freely transferable save that, for a limited period of time, any such transfer may only be made through Rank's appointed stockbrokers.
Completion is subject to certain procedural conditions being fulfilled by Rank and the Vendors and is expected to take place on or before the middle of February 2003."
Rank is one of the UK's leading leisure and entertainment companies and an international provider of services to the film industry. In 2002, leisure and entertainment activities included casinos, bingo clubs and on-line gaming, as well as Hard Rock Cafes and global rights to the Hard Rock brand. Rank also owns film processing and video and DVD duplication and distribution facilities, branded Deluxe. Rank operates primarily in the UK and North America, although it also has activities in continental Europe and other parts of the world.
Rank Interactive Gaming comprises the activities of Rank.com and HardRock Casino.com. Rank.com, which offers a variety of fixed odds games was launched in November 2001 and HardRockCasino.com, which offers a variety of casino games including roulette, blackjack and video poker, was launched in July 2002. At the end of December 2002, the two sites together had over 75,000 registrations and were generating an annual run-rate of stakes placed of over £90 million.
Website: www.hardrock-casino.com
Launched in July 2002 HardRock-Casino.com is owned by Hard Rock Cafe and The Rank Group Plc, who has over 40 years' experience in bringing numerous entertainment opportunities to the public via its brands, including casinos.
HardRockCasino.com is a fusion of the heritage of the Hard Rock Cafe brand, the world's leading collector and exhibitor of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, and the organisation's experience in the casino industry. With the aim of creating an exciting visual casino experience online that extends the Hard Rock Cafe brand, the owners are still governed by the Hard Rock philosophy: "Love All – Serve All".
Other Rank.com assets are:
Rank Interactive Gaming Ltd, announced on May 16th, 2002, its partnership with iVillage.co.uk, the no.1 website for women in the UK in a move to bring online gaming to a female audience.
Rank.com is to become the exclusive games channel provider for iVillage.co.uk, providing online visitors with a range of unique and exciting games that can be played for real money, or for free. The games have been developed in-house by Rank which means they cannot be found anywhere else on the Web. They include a range of bingo and lottery style games as well as a selection of fruit-machine style wagers.
And of course you would like to know what the female gaming products are:
Casino Games:
Bingo Games:
Slot Games:
Number Games:
Virtual Horseracing:
Rank.com operates and offers products on this iVillage.co.uk website, www.rank.com, under a UK Bookmaker's Permit. Rank.com, via its legal entity Rank Interactive Gaming Limited, holds an unrestricted Bookmaker's Permit which was issued in London, England by the North Westminster Betting and Gaming Committee on 26th July 2001.
The Rank.com site has already proved itself to be very appealing to female players and both parties are understandably very excited about the deal. Damian Cope, MD of Rank.com comments: "Whilst Rank.com has been designed to appeal to both sexes, there are particular games on the site that women are playing more than men, in particular our bingo-style games and the latest of these 'Mi££ionaire Bingo' which has the UK's largest online jackpot of £1,000,000."
Becca Clarke, business development director for iVillage UK said: "50% of women playing games and gambling online are women, so it made sense to us to offer games to iVillage's 700,000 strong female unique user's base. Rank offers some of the best games on the web including Bingo, which is a notorious favourite among women, so there is perfect fit with the companies. We expect the iVillage games channel to be one of the key destination areas of our site."
Preliminary Announcement of the Results for the year ended 31 December 2002:
* excluding Rank Interactive Gaming
Website: www.sportingbet.com
Founded in 1998 by Mark Blandford, Sportingbet is a fully regulated, tax-free, online sports betting and gaming company that is publicly traded on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange (AiM).
Operating under fully regulated licences in the U.K., Australia, Antigua and Curacao, Sportingbet has over 800,000 customers and trades in over 100 countries, 11 languages and 11 currencies.
Sportingbet's mission is to be the leading operator of interactive gambling through the provision of secure legal and ethical sports betting and gaming services. The company's strive to provide constant customer satisfaction and a service that is convenient, innovative, safe and fair.
Sportingbet's strategy is to attract customers who gamble for leisure and recreation. People who enjoy a flutter. Unlike high-rolling professionals, customers should bet for entertainment and the excitement of beating the odds. Providing an income, is not the name of the game!
Sportingbet's systems deliberately limit both individual bet sizes and the total amount bet on any particular sporting event. The average bet size is £50. The Company is a mass-market operator. The vision is that any customer, anywhere in the world, should be able to bet via Sportingbet's websites or callcentres without any barrier.
According to Sportingbet: "As the world's leading online sports betting company, both by number of customers and number of transactions, we have clearly made a good start in achieving this vision. However, in market share terms, there is everything to play for. With an estimated share of less than one per cent of the world market, we have major opportunities to extend our international coverage and scale'"
The potential market is estimated at 1% of world wide GDP, although clearly this will vary from country to country.
| Asia/Australia | Europe | America | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to | 5.5% | 1.3% | 1.2% |
| Source: OECD, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Merrill Lynch |
|||
People all around the world bet in different ways, on different sports and in different currencies. Sportingbet uniquely tries to cover all these needs.
Sportingbet announced its unaudited results for the third quarter and cumulative results for the nine months to December 31st, 2002.
Third Quarter to 31 December 2002:
Website: www.unibet.co.uk
Founded in 1997 and based in Wimbledon, England, Unibet is part of an international group whose parent company is Unibet Group Plc in the UK. One objective of the Group is to be a listed a company on the London Stock Exchange, in due course. The Group is controlled by more than 80 shareholders resident in mainly the UK, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands; Deloitte & Touche are the appointed auditors of the Group.
The subsidiary Unibet (London) Ltd was granted a licence in the UK in 1998 to run a betting operation. This was followed in the year of 2000 by the subsidiary Unibet (International) Ltd, which was granted a licence to run a betting operation in Malta.
For the Financial Year of 2001 the Group had a turnover exceeding 50 million GBP. For the Financial year of 2002 the forecast for the Group indicates a turnover exceeding 100 million GBP.
The services of the Group are offered in 12 different languages, to more than 100,000 clients residing in more than 70 countries throughout the world. To manage swift and secure payments to and from those clients, the Group is affiliated to a payment solution system, where one of the major banks in the UK, NatWest, is the key partner. In addition to this, the payment solutions system includes a large number of local domestic, well recognised banks, in more than 25 countries.
Being 100% Internet based (websites at www.unibet.co.uk for British clients, and www.unibet.com), and without the baggage of a shop-based bookmaker, Unibet claims to have a lower cost structure being able to give its clients a better value odds on a wide range of sports including: athletics, baseball, boxing, football, formula one, golf, ice hockey, NBA, NFL, rallying, rugby, snooker and tennis.
With support for 12 languages, Unibet's international client base are also furnished with odds on specialised events such as bandy, cricket, elections, floor ball, table tennis, speedway, Swedish trotting and even space travel. Unibet does not accept US residents as clients.
Unibet accepts all major credit cards, including MasterCard and Visa, with customer accounts available in most major currencies.
Website: http://www.bet365.com
bet365 Group Limited is another of the UK's leading betting and gaming groups with over 500 employees handling over 250,000 bets each week to customers from over 120 different countries. bet365 operate 59 licensed betting offices in the UK.
bet365, is the Internet and telephone betting division of the bet365 Group Limited, one of the UK's leading betting and gaming groups. The group has held a UK license since 1974, has over 500 employees and takes more than 250,000 bets each week.
The bet365 Group Limited owns the bet365 chain of Licensed betting offices in the UK and is affiliated to the Backhouse bet365 chain of Licensed betting offices. bet365 operates under a permit issued under the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963.
bet365 also operates official branded betting sites for 80 professional soccer clubs in the UK, including Newcastle United and Glasgow Rangers, under an agreement with Premium TV. One will find bet365 on the rails at many of England's famous horse racing and greyhound racing tracks.
bet365 is also affiliated to IBAS and agrees to abide by its decision on any dispute that may not be resolved to your satisfaction. bet365 has a Thawte SSL Web Server Certificate.
Just like nearly all the well respected bookmakers, bet365 Group Limited launched also an internet casino: www.casino365.com.
Website: www.ukbetting.com
Ukbetting plc (AIM: UKB.L) is the UK's leading provider of online gaming and sports content. Listing on the Alternative Investment Market in August 2001, ukbetting has since pursued an active acquisitive strategy and now owns and operates four sports content sites (sportinglife.com, sportal.com, bettingzone.co.uk and TEAMtalk.com) and two wagering sites (ukbetting.com and totalbet.com). Through these sites it is possible to find in-depth information, and place fixed-odds bets, on a variety of sports including horse racing, football, cricket, rugby, tennis, and many more. At the last financial results in September 2002, betting customers stood at approximately 100,000 and the combined unique users for the sports content sites number 3.9 million per month.
On February 18th, 2003, ukbetting plc announced the launch of exclusive on-TRACK racing commentary and results services. Attheraces has authorised uk-betting plc subsidiary, TEAMtalk Ltd, together with Broadsystem, a telephone services provider, to produce the official premium rate telephone-based horse racing commentary service for its 49 UK race tracks on an exclusive basis. The service includes trackside commentaries (the same commentaries heard by race goers at the tracks), ensuring immediate and exciting delivery attheraces chose to authorise TEAMtalk and Broadsystem to provide these services because it recognised that this partnership was best placed to deliver a high quality horse racing service in line with attheraces' position as the major horse racing media player.
The service combines editorial overview, sophisticated audio production and state of the art streaming as well as commentaries and a full results service.
The service includes:
The new onTRACK service will be ideally placed to increase the overall market for horse racing related telephony services both through quality improvements and the addition of SMS, MMS and other services.
David Annat, Content Director of ukbetting plc, commented: "We are very pleased with this agreement. This service is the only official service available and provides genuine trackside commentary. attheraces joins us in believing that the future of telephone-based horse racing commentary has never been in a stronger position."
Website: www.betinternet. com
betinternet.com plc was founded in May 1998 and commenced trading on the 5th October 1998 from its operational headquarters based in Douglas, on the Isle of Man.
As the business developed the company launched it's website operation on March 17th 2000, as betinternet.com an easily identified 'brand' name in all major countries throughout the globe. The company name instantly identifies the products and services offered and the method of delivery to consumers.
The company was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the 9th May 2000 and acquired PLC status.
Since the launch of the website in March 2000, the company has become a significant and respected player in the telephone and internet fixed odds sports betting industry. The services are offered to customers in over 130 countries, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The company's strategy remains focused on positioning betinternet.com plc as an innovator and leading provider of e-commerce leisure betting services.
Part of this continued development was the announcement of the Euro Off-Track Limited Partnership, a 50-50 partnership with the Greyhound Channel, Inc ("GCI") of America to enable, for the first time non United States Customers to bet directly into US Totes through the provision of live broadcasts of greyhound, thoroughbred and harness racing from around the globe, creating truly Co-Mingled Global Totalisator Pools.
betinternet.com plc seeks to differentiate itself by offering attractive product propositions to the changing profile of customers in the 20-30 age group through multiple or 'exotic' bets. It also aims to inspire customers to try different products and services.
Since 1998 the company believes it has developed a significant brand, which communicates its dedication to new and innovative products through leading edge technology and strategic marketing to a global community of leisure bettors
betinternet.com plc's interim results for the 26 weeks ended 1 December 2002.
Highlights:
Commenting on the results Jim Mellon, chairman of betinternet, said: "The Company is now cash flow positive in its core business for the first time in its history and all the key ratios are promising.
"I am hopeful that for the full year to May 2003 we will make our first net profit as a Company and be very positively positioned for the following period. As a result I have every confidence that we will go from strength to strength."
Fixed Odds
Internet
The continuing growth of the internet wagering operation has given rise to a small, but nonetheless most welcome profit. Having seen customer numbers rise quite steeply during the World Cup in June 2002, betinternet has successfully managed to retain many of these customers as regular account users. The continuing and significant investment in IT infrastructure has resulted in the Company's ability to readily handle several times the existing average daily volume of bets and is part of building for the future of the business.
Telephone
The Company's strategy of continuing to provide a 'first-class' service to a selected number of customers continues to reap benefits, with a more than satisfactory margin of 12.7% during the period (2001: 6.3%). Accordingly, betinternet intends to continue to run this operation at its current level of activity.
Pari-Mutuel
During the period of these results the partnership with US Off-Track Inc. (Euro Off-Track), although continuing to absorb cash, has developed further, providing a number of potential opportunities which are actively being pursued.
These include initiatives to develop pool wagering by way of commingling on a global basis. The Board is currently considering a number of joint venture opportunities and, although these discussions are still at an early stage, the Board is cautiously optimistic of its ability to achieve profitability in the short-term. Indeed, the Company anticipates that it will shortly start to receive contributions from at least two B2B relationships.
Subsequent to the period end, the Company has re-negotiated its Joint-Venture agreement with its partner, US Off-Track Inc., to provide that the costs of this 'start-up' operation will in future be shared equally. Operating costs have also been reduced by securing contributions to the broadcast costs from the Irish Greyhound Board and Gaming Insight Plc. In addition, a 'soft launch' of the Irish greyhound content into the USA has been undertaken. The results of this have been encouraging and a full launch is planned for late February/early March.
The number of tracks into which we are able to commingle wagers has grown from 54 when we last reported in November 2002 to 74 now.
In addition to the organic growth that has delivered profitability for its sportsbook, the Company is also considering several options that would enable it to expand by way of acquisition.
Since the announcement of the preliminary results in November 2002, and as previously signalled, the Board has separated the roles of Chairman and Managing Director, and accordingly Jim Mellon was appointed Chairman with effect from 1 January 2003. This is part of the Board's continuing desire to ensure it has the widest range of skills available to enable it to successfully grow the business.
The Company's ambition, to establish itself as a respected, integrated, global e-gaming company, is undiminished and the Board is pleased with the continuing solid progress that betinternet is making.
betinternet.com plc,the global on-line gaming group, announced in April, 2003, the acquisition of Oddsalive Limited ('Oddsalive'), a Malta based on-line bookmaker, that specialises in soccer wagering across a wide selection of Scandinavian markets, as well as international sports.
betinternet is acquiring 100% of the issued share capital of Oddsalive for US $1 (one US dollar). In addition, the Company is also providing guarantees that customer deposits and trade creditors will be honoured. Arrangements with the vendors will ensure that the cost to betinternet is capped at $700,000 (£440,000).
The Company has entered into an 'earn-out' arrangement with the vendors, including the management team of six individuals, whereby gross profit less marketing costs are split 80/20 in favour of betinternet during the first two years of new ownership.
The 'earn-out' has been capped at $1 million over a maximum 2 year period, and, furthermore, is only payable once betinternet has recovered its cash injection, estimated to be $500,000 (£314,000), which Oddsalive will receive following completion. The acquisition will be funded by betinternet from existing cash resources, which at 31 March 2003 exceeded £2 million.
Oddsalive has 14,000 registered customers, of which approximately 4,500 have placed wagers in the last three months. In its latest financial year it generated revenues of $10.9 million (£6.86 million). Oddsalive has strong market awareness in Norway and other Scandinavian markets. The acquisition of Oddsalive has been approved by the Lotteries & Gaming Authority of Malta.
This transaction will strengthen the range of international sports and languages that betinternet can provide to its existing customer base of approximately 41,000, as well as providing systems enhancements and more extensive wagering opportunities for the Oddsalive customer base. bet-internet intends to re-brand Oddsalive in due course. The technical infrastructure of Oddsalive will also be migrated to bet-internet: the cost of this integration is not expected to exceed $50,000.
Commenting on the acquisition, bet-internet Managing Director, Paul Doona said: "As one of the strategic initiatives alluded to at the time of our interim results, the acquisition of Oddsalive is an excellent first step in our aim of broadening our geographical reach and increasing our customer base.
"Oddsalive customers will benefit from being able to access the superior diversity of wagering opportunities available through betinternet, and our existing customer base will also benefit from a whole new range of Scandinavian sports."
Paul Doona also commented on current trading saying: "Like the rest of the bookmaking industry, betinternet had a disappointing March, and the profit for the twelve month period to 1 June 2003, is, therefore, likely to be less than previously forecast. Nevertheless, I am pleased to confirm that the Company remains on track to record its maiden profit, since listing on AIM in May 2000."
Sportech PLC is the UK's leading home gaming company, providing a variety of gaming and betting opportunities to customers through its wholly owned gaming and betting business, Littlewoods Gaming.
Sportech (formerly known as Rodime) acquired Littlewoods Gaming (formerly known as Littlewoods Leisure), the betting and gaming company most famous for its Littlewoods Pools product, in September 2000 for £161 million.
In 2002 Sportech acquired Zetters Football Pools business for net cash of £0.7 million, delivering a customer base of 60,000.
Sportech PLC has a full listing on the London Stock Exchange and recorded a turnover of £195.3 million for the year ended 31 December 2002.
Website: www.littlewoodsgaming.com
Littlewoods Gaming is most famous for Littlewoods Football Pools, the football scores prediction game founded in 1923, which established Littlewoods as a household name throughout the UK.
Littlewoods provides today a wide portfolio of gaming and betting opportunities to over 1.7 million customers. The company is developing the business through the utilisation of new channels of distribution to bring more games to more players in the home.
The company operates in three main product areas:
Operating profits before goodwill and restructuring costs, from the football pools increased by 10% to £25.6 million, (2001: £23.2 million), reflecting significant improvement in operating efficiencies, the reduction in the duty burden from April 2002 and a £0.4 million contribution from Zetters since its acquisition in August 2002. We have continued to focus on our customer retention and recruitment programmes, further reducing the like for like rate of decline in turnover in the second half of the year to 14%.
The acquisition of the Zetters Football Pools business for net cash of £0.7 million delivered a customer base of 60,000. There has been no significant customer loss as a result of the acquisition, and the business has performed in line with expectations.
We continue to identify opportunities to rationalise the operational and overhead base of the football pools whilst extending our distribution of this product via television, internet and overseas businesses.
Littlewoods Bet Direct telephone and internet betting continued to deliver strong revenue growth, with turnover 60% higher, at £83.1 million (2001: £51.8 million). This growth reflected the benefits of a level playing field arising from the elimination of tax for customers in October 2001. As a result of the increased betting volumes, operating losses were halved during the year to £2.0 million compared to 2001.
Customer numbers increased by 20% to 272,000, with average stakes per telephone cal up 23% to £36 and the average internet bet up 26% to £17. Following a strong first half, gross win margins eased back in the second half, in line with market trends, leading to a gross win margin for the full year of 10% (2001: 11%).
The commencement of a three year all-weather racing sponsorship programme, positioning the Littlewoods Bet Direct brand at more than one in five UK televised horse racing events, significantly raised Littlewoods Bet Direct's profile. The business continued to provide a variety of unique best and special bet offers to customers, generating continued media exposure for the brand.
The company is looking forward to the launch of the fixed odds service on the attheraces television channel, and expect this additional customer access to further stimulate growth and profitability.
Operating profits before goodwill from Games and Lotteries increased by £0.4 million to £0.9 million, mainly due to the £0.5 million profit from the sale of the Pull Tabs lottery business, announced in September 2002.
2002 was a period of significant transition for the soft gaming business as the company concluded a number of major new distribution arrangements, significantly enhancing both on-line and off-line customer access, while withdrawing from low growth marginal businesses such as Pull Tabs lotteries. The focus has been on interactive channels together with retail distribution.
The company's plan to capture a larger share of the £500 million scratchcard market was boosted by groundbreaking retail distribution deals with both Sainsbury's and Safeway for the supply of own label scratchcards dedicated to specific charities such as Comic Relief and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Extended trials with both these supermarket groups are currently underway.
Growth of on-line games has been under-pinned by the launch of Littlewoods-casino.com, Littlewoods on-line casino, which was launched in August 2002 and is already trading profitably. The company encouraged by the levels of customer interest in this product and plan to enhance the choice and quality of games available in the first half of 2003.
Littlewoods continued to develop innovative and entertaining internet gaming products utilising a variety of instant win mechanics. These have included a range of ITV Pop Rivals pay to win internet games and the recently launched Formula One Fantasy League game, available at both ITV.com and Littlewoods own soft gaming site, Littlewoodsgameon.com.
Growth prospects for the Games and Lotteries business are enhanced significantly by the television deals completed with BSkyB and ITV. The expectaction is to launch the first programme-linked pay to play games on ITV in summer 2003.
The technical and service capabilities have already been tested successfully by the launch of games accessed from both Sky broadcast channels and Sky Active in December 2002.
Charities and Good Causes
Littlewoods Gaming has a long-standing history of support for charitable initiatives and good causes. During the financial year 2002, the Littlewoods Football Pools business made voluntary donations of £1.9 million to both The Football Foundation and The Foundation for Sport and the Arts. Both are established organisations whose policies exist to support football, sport and the arts at grass roots levels and beyond.
Littlewoods Gaming recognises that The Football Foundation and The Foundation for Sport and the Arts provide innovative programmes and grant awards, which benefit a wide range of individuals of all ages throughout the UK.
Corporate Giving and Employee Policies
In addition, the Littlewoods Games and Lotteries business generated funds of over £2.5 million for charities and good causes through the sale of Charity Scratchcard and Prizebuster/Lotto 3 and 4 products.
This provided much needed funding support to a wide variety of charities including The Royal British Legion, The Samaritans and The British Red Cross.
During the year, donations were also made to Tote "Racing to Help Children" (£1,000), Injured Jockey Fund (£2,500), NSPCC (£5,000) and the Gambling Industry Charitable Trust (£40,000).
Employees
Littlewoods Gaming employs over 500 people, and provides a proactive employee communication programme.
Trading
Group turnover was comprised entirely of betting and gaming revenues from the Littlewoods Gaming business. Turnover has increased by 7% to £195.3 million, reflecting strong growth in Sports Betting revenues.
Operating profit, before amortisation of goodwill and restructuring costs, has increased by 27% to £22.2 million. Operating profit has increased by 33% to £11.4 million. Betting Duties & Levies There was a significant change in football pools betting duty during the year. From 31 March 2002 football pools betting duty changed from a 17.5% tax on gross stakes, to a 15% tax on gross profits.
The change resulted in the effective rate of duty reducing from 17.5% of turnover to approximately 11.5% of turnover and brought the basis of football pools betting duty into line with general betting duty.
Interest
As the Group predominantly trades in the United Kingdom, its main treasury exposure is to interest rate risk.
The Group uses interest rate swaps and caps to manage its interest rate exposures on its debt position with the objective of minimising its net interest cost.
The interest rate profile of the Group is detailed in note 22. Net interest payable was £8.2 million (2001: £9.2 million).The main reason for the reduction is lower interest rates together with the reduction in the Group's net debt during the financial year.
Exceptional Items
Exceptional items before taxation totalled £0.6 million reflecting major restructuring projects. During the year two projects were completed aimed at significantly improving operating capabilities whilst reducing costs. Scanning technology was introduced to mark football pools coupons, whilst the main operating site was rationalised. These initiatives resulted in a non-operating exceptional profit of £1.4 million from a surplus property disposal offset by operating exceptional charges of £2.0 million comprising £1.8 million of redundancy costs and £0.2 million of other costs.
Goodwill
Goodwill was augmented during the year by the addition of £1.3 million of goodwill in respect of the acquisition of Zetters football pools; this is being amortised over three years. The goodwill in respect of the Littlewoods Gaming business acquired in September 2000 continues to be amortised over 20 years.
The total amortisation charge for the year, including amortisation in respect of Zetters, was £8.8 million. Group Profit before Tax Profit before tax, was £4.6 million compared to a loss of £0.6 million in 2001.
Taxation
The tax charge for the year includes a current tax charge of £1.1 million and a deferred tax charge of £0.6 million giving an effective rate of tax of 12.8% on profit before taxation and amortisation of goodwill. This effective rate of tax, which reflects the impact of the property disposal and of prior year adjustments, is not expected to be sustainable.
The Group adopted FRS 19 in the period, the impact of which was to increase the current year tax charge by £0.6 million and gave rise to a prior year adjustment of £1.3 million.
Earnings per Share (EPS)
After the impact of goodwill amortisation, basic EPS was 0.49 pence. Excluding goodwill amortisation, underlying EPS was 1.97 pence.
Cash Flow & Capital Expenditure Net cash flow from operating activities, including restructuring payments of £2.0 million, was £18.1 million (2001: £15.7 million).
Included within this net cash flow was an outflow of £3.3 million relating to the development of the television and Internet gaming strategy. There was a further cash outflow of £1.3 million relating to capital expenditure to support the interactive strategy.
Football Pools
Littlewoods Pools was founded in 1923 by telegraphist John Moores and two colleagues, with the first coupons sold outside Old Trafford football ground in Manchester, and paying out just two pounds and 12 shillings (£2.60).
The Littlewoods Football Pools game, offering a jackpot prize of £2 million, allows customer's to predict the outcomes of UK and Australian football matches. (Australian fixtures are used when the UK season ends).
Thousands of cash prizes are paid out automatically each week to pools players who correctly forecast which of 49 football matches each week will result in score draws, such as 1-1, 2-2, or 3-3. Three points are awarded for score draws, two for noscore draws and one point for a win. If a customer's eight selections add up to the maximum 24 points, they win the top prize. There are also prizes for players with 23, 22 or 21 points.
In addition to the full-time score draws prizes, customers selections are also entered into a half-time score draw jackpot and a high-score jackpot.
The majority of players today use the same selection of numbers each week, although some customers still prefer to predict individual match results, with experts in national and local newspapers giving advice.
Spot The Ball
Competitions such as Spot the Ball have been around since the early part of the 20th century, initially operating through newspapers. Littlewoods began their game in 1969, when it was called Trap the Ball. A simpler version, renamed Spot the Ball, began in 1971.
The competition became a year-round weekly one in 1973 and was then operated in conjunction with Vernons and Zetters. It is now operated by Littlewoods Gaming alone and is the only national Spot the Ball competition.
Customer's select co-ordinates on a photograph of football action where they predict the centre of the football to be. The entry with a cross on the exact centre of the ball wins the top prize of £150,000, with runner up prizes on offer as well. There is also a host of consolation prizes for near miss entries.
Sports Betting
Littlewoods Bet Direct is the rapidly growing telephone and internet sports betting service from Littlewoods Gaming, which offers the convenience of betting whenever or wherever it suits the customer. Littlewoods Bet Direct was launched in October 1998, following a successful trial in Scotland.
Littlewoods Bet Direct offers a friendly and easy to use way to get great value on UK, European and International football, UK and selected overseas horse racing, US and European tour golf and other major sporting events.
Launched in October 1998, following a successful trial in Scotland, Littlewoods Bet Direct has grown rapidly and in its first two and a half years of operation recruited more then 200,000 new customers over the telephone and internet channels.
Lotteries
Lotto 3 and 4, are games unique to Littlewoods Gaming based on the outcome of the National Lottery. Launched in May 2000 Littlewoods Lotto 3 and 4, formerly known as Prizebuster, was the UK's first internet lottery and the country's first interactive TV lottery available through Telewest's digital network). Lotto 3 and 4 are charity lottery games that generate funds for charities such as The Roy Castle Foundation, Scope and Rehab who receive 20p out of every £1 spent.
The Roy Castle Foundation receives tens of thousands of pounds each week from its Lotto 3 and 4 lottery, towards running and equipping the world?s only dedicated lung cancer research facility at its Liverpool headquarters.
Scope, the UK's largest disability charity, is also being boosted by Lotto 3 and 4. Funds generated will help provide vital services for those who suffer from Cerebral Palsy including playgroups, schools, training for work, supported employment and independent living project and family support work.
Littlewoods Lotto 3 and 4
Littlewoods Lotto 3 is a numbers selection game, where customer's select three numbers between 1 and 49, if all three appear in the National Lottery draw the customer can win a top prize of up to £3,000.
Lotto 4 is also a numbers selection game, where customer's select four numbers between 1 and 49, if all four appear in the National Lottery the customer wins a top prize of £25,000.
Lotto 3 and 4 are run as a pool-based game and so the size of potential jackpots can increase, depending on the number of winners, for example a Leamington Spa man picked up more than £19,800 thanks to his four lucky numbers.
The Lotto 3 and 4 prize figures compare extremely favourably with those on offer from the National Lottery, where players receive a pay out of £10 for matching 3 numbers and an average of £67 for matching 4 numbers.
Scratchcards
Littlewoods Gaming Scratchcard Lotteries was founded in 1995 as part of the company's commitment to develop exciting and fun ways to play new products. It took over London-based UK Charity Lotteries in 1996 with the operation re-locating to Liverpool. Since 1995, Littlewoods Scratchcards have raised more than £34 million for UK charities with more fund raising to come from an exciting new range of games.
The company is the largest charity lottery operator in the UK, selling Scratchcards through a network of more than 10,000 retail outlets, with 20p in every £1 spent going directly to well-known charities. These include the Poppy Appeal, the Samaritans and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Scratchcards offer a range of instant prizes from £1 up to £75,000.
In 2002 the Scratchcard division of Littlewoods Gaming was boosted by groundbreaking retail distribution deals with both Sainsbury's and Safeway for the supply of own label scratchcards dedicated to specific charities such as Comic Relief.
Games and Competitions
Littlewoods 400 and Littlewoods 4000 are bi-weekly numbers games, based on the main balls drawn in the Irish National Lottery (not including the bonus ball). The game is played over the internet and by direct mail.
In the case of Littlewoods 400, matching three numbers wins the top prize, which is guaranteed at £400. For Littlewoods 4000 matching four numbers wins the top prize, which is guaranteed at £4000.
The Premier Challenge offers a pool prize of up to £10,000. The game features 10 Premier League matches. Players have to predict the result for each game by selecting either Home Win, Draw or Away Win for each match.
Goalrush features the 6 Premier League matches selected by Littlewoods each week. Players have to forecast the total number of goals scored in each match from a list of 6 given options ? i.e. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5+
Stakes are set at £1, £2, £5 or £10 and prizes range from £10,000 for 6 correct, £500 for 5 correct, £50 for 4 correct.
On-line Casino
The casino, available on-line, offers a wide selection of the most popular casino games such as Black Jack and European roulette.
Offering transaction and account security, personal verification and random number testing Littlewoods casino provides customers with the opportunity to play exciting games that are highly regulated by the Isle of Man authorities.
By setting up an account, funds can be deposited via Credit/Debit card allowing customers to then play in the on-line casino for real money.
Website: www.wembleyplc.com/corporate
Wembley plc is a leading track-based gaming company operating in the UK and USA. The company's objective is to generate enhanced returns for it's shareholders by growing businesses organically and where appropriate, through acquisition.
History
The Greyhound Racing Association has had its ups and downs in common with any other company that has been in business for 76 years but it is now performing well under a management with a clear vision of where it is heading.
GRA was formed in 1926 by retired chief constable Sir William Gentle, Brigadier- General Critchley and an American, Charles Munn. Each provided £ 20,000, enough to float the company and develop its first of its sites for residential and commercial greyhound track at Belle Vue in Manchester. purposes.
The inaugural greyhound meeting in Britain around an oval track took place at Belle Vue on July 24, 1926, and from that very day it was clear the sport had a big future in Britain.
GRA moved its headquarters from Belle Vue to White City, London in 1927 and nine years later floated on the Stock Exchange as greyhound racing in Britain continued to prosper.
The war years hit the sport badly but it again found an upward spiral after the hostilities were over. Literally hundreds of thousands of ex-service men with money to spend but little to spend it on found their way to greyhound racing.
Crowds reached record highs of 70,000-80,000 for rounds of the greyhound Derby at White City (West London) and buoyed by this success in the fifties and sixties GRA bought track after track to capitalise on the popularity of the sport.
The passing of legislation in 1963, which allowed the opening of betting shops on the high street, proved the catalyst to a decline in the number of people going racing. Suddenly people could have a bet without having to visit to the track.
In the fifties and sixties GRA's policy of buying up tracks raised the value of the company's stock, this continued into the early seventies when the price of property boomed. The company renamed itself GRA Property Trust in order to redevelop many
The net result was the loss of many of the country's most popular greyhound venues – including West Ham and Clapton – which were sold for commercial redevelopment, although in March 1972 GRA Property Trust acquired Wimbledon Stadium, its flagship venue today.
Disaster, however, was only around the corner. A slump in the property market caused shares in property companies to free-fall. At the beginning of 1975 GRA Property Trust was suspended from the Stock Exchange following news of debts said to be in the region of £20 million.
City troubleshooter Jack Aaronson was brought in. He had a reputation for being able to resurrect troubled companies and GRA entered a seven-year scheme of arrangement, whereby all dividends were paid to creditors at the expense of shareholders.
Isadore Kerman became chairman on the departure of Aaronson in the mid-eighties and there followed the sale of a number of leading GRA venues, including Slough, Shawfield, Harringay and Powderhall.
Perhaps the saddest day in the GRA history came on September 22, 1984, when Stock Conversion exercised an option granted in 1968 to purchase White City for just £2 million.
In 1987 GRA was the subject of a £68.5 million reverse takeover by Wembley Stadium. Wembley assumed control of GRA and in February 1988 GRA Group was renamed Wembley plc.
During the 1990s the Company went through a period of reorganisation and modernisation. This resulted in the introduction of company-wide business standards, the computerisation of many manual processes, in 1997 a Customer Care charter was introduced and all employees underwent extensive customer care training. There is an on-going management development programme which has been designed to ensure that managers are equipped with the up to date skills. In 1998 GRA purchased Oxford Stadium signalling the dawning of a new era for GRA.
In addition to Oxford, GRA operates Greyhound Racing Stadiums in Wimbledon, Catford, Portsmouth, Birmingham and Belle Vue, Manchester.
Currently GRA is heavily involved in 24dogs.com, where live greyhound racing is broadcast over the Internet. 24dogs.com is operated by E-tote Ltd, a specialist online totalisator betting company. E-tote use software and managed services from Datatote, the UK's premier greyhound totalisator company. 24dogs.com partner with most of the UK's leading racetracks including the GRA, Greyhound Racing Association Ltd.
Product
In common with all racecourses in Britain, GRA tracks uses a Totalisator, or Tote for short, system to enable its customers to bet on racing.
The Tote was introduced to Britain in 1928 but until the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1934 legalised its use at greyhound tracks the Totalisator had only been in operation at horse race meetings.
How the Tote works: Bets placed by patrons determine the odds of each of the runners. All money invested in the race is pooled. The number of winning units on the race divides the pool and a dividend, inclusive of stake money, is declared. One places a bet either by visiting one of the Tote Booths located in the stadium or, in one of our restaurants or executive suites, a Tote Runner service may be available.
Race cards: The Racecard contains the "form" for each greyhound who will be racing at the meeting.
Below are examples of the types of bets you can place. The details here and the minimum stakes may vary between GRA venues.
| Profit and loss account | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover: | |||||
| Cont. operations | 64,692 | 72,014 | 84,011 | 101,162 | 101,127 |
| Discont. operations | 53,576 | 37,682 | 31,033 | 37,239 | 13,891 |
| 118,268 | 109,696 | 115,044 | 138,401 | 115,018 | |
| Operating profit: | |||||
| Cont. operations | 18,208 | 23,614 | 29,360 | 35,089 | 38,873 |
| Exceptional items relating to cont. operations | 15,905 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Operating profit from cont. operations | 34,113 | 23,614 | 29,360 | 35,089 | 38,873 |
| Operating profit from discont. operations | 12,173 | 1,435 | -1,581 | -2,267 | 1,422 |
| Exceptional items relating to discont. operations | -7,522 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1,590 |
| Operating profit | 38,764 | 25,049 | 27,779 | 32,822 | 35,861 |
| Profit on sale of tangible fixed assets | 0 | 0 | 1,643 | 0 | 0 |
| Sale or termination of businesses | 0 | 0 | 2,058 | 0 | -10,363 |
| Share of operating loss in associate | 0 | 0 | -1,029 | 0 | 0 |
| Net interest (payable) / receivable | -3,601 | 1,597 | 1,595 | 737 | 613 |
| Profit on ordinary activities before taxation | 35,163 | 26,646 | 32,046 | 33,559 | 26,111 |
| Tax on profit on ordinary activities | -9,427 | -10,232 | -5,328 | -12,070 | -10,781 |
| Profit for the financial year | 25,736 | 16,414 | 26,718 | 21,489 | 15,330 |
| Ordinary dividend | -3,052 | -3,844 | -4,369 | -5,546 | -6,211 |
| Retained profit for the year | 22,684 | 12,570 | 22,349 | 15,943 | 9,119 |
Website: www.betfair.com
Betfair, the sportsbetting exchange, is a betting between people with opposing views. All bets on Betfair have been placed there by users who either want to have a bet in the normal way (back), or offer odds to other punters (lay).
Betfair is the trading name of The Sporting Exchange Ltd. The Sporting Exchange Limited is registered as a limited liability company in England and Wales, company number 3770548.
The Sporting Exchange Limited was founded in August 1999 by Andrew Black and Edward Wray in order to commercialise proprietary betting technology that had been under development for the preceding year.
The technology used by The Sporting Exchange Limited is proprietary and, as well as being protected by copyright, is the subject of a patent application that has been filed with the United Kingdom Patent Office.
The Sporting Exchange Limited is located in the United Kingdom and operates within the confines of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963. It holds a bookmaker's permit in England and Wales. As stated earlier Betfair, with its person-to-person exchanges, is upsetting the traditional bookmakers.
Differences between betting with Betfair vs. a conventional bookmaker:
Back or lay
When you "back" a selection (be it an individual, a team, horse, dog or other), you are betting that it will win. This is just like betting with conventional bookies.
When you "lay" it, you are betting against it winning. For example, if you're betting in a market on which team is going to win the Premiership and you lay Man Utd, you offer odds to other punters who wish to back Man Utd. If Man Utd don't win, then you pick up the backer's stake. If Man Utd win, then you pay out. This is what bookmakers traditionally do.
You never know who you are betting against, your privacy and the confidentiality of your bets is maintained by Betfair's secure site.
Choose odds
With Betfair there is always a choice of what odds to accept. If you want better odds than are currently available, you can place an order for a better price, but be realistic because there has to be somebody prepared to lay the bet at those odds, and vice versa.
Take a look at the odds before a game and you will see them change as visitors back and lay their bets. The odds often improve nearer to the off, as there are more people in the market.
Commission
You do not pay tax at Betfair, and commission is only paid on your net winnings on each market. This is particularly beneficial if you have multiple bets on a single market such as the Premiership Winner market. Some of your bets may win, some may lose, however you only pay commission on your NET winnings. If your bets in a particular market amount to a net loss, you do not pay commission.
Fees for transferring funds to and from Betfair
To reflect Betfair's own charges, there is a 1.5% fee for all credit card deposits. There is no fee for UK debit card deposits or withdrawals to any card. Deposits and withdrawals can also be made by cheque and bank transfer - there is a small fee for bank transfer withdrawals only. These fees are made by Betfair's bank and are not retained by Betfair.