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Ladbrokes Caught in Snow Prediction Scandal

Ladbrokes, one of the UK’s leading online sportsbetting and casino operators, has been caught in a scandal involving its refusal to pay out a punter over £7 million for betting on a white Christmas.

The player wagered £10 on two accumulator bets that 24 locations in the United Kingdom would see snow over Christmas. His predictions proved to be right and the ecstatic player headed off to Ladbrokes to claim his winnings which, according to his calculations, should have topped £7 million.

Unfortunately, Ladbrokes pulled out its rule book where it clearly states that players may not place accumulators on bets such as a white Christmas, something which the player says was not pointed out to him.

Instead, 52 year old Cliff Bryant was offered £31 – winnings that he earned for making 24 individual bets.

“My heart was beating fast when I thought I'd won but now I'm absolutely fuming. If I'd been paid I would have loved to have got my teeth done,” said Bryant.

The player will be consulting with the Independent Betting Adjudication Service to see how to proceed.

In the meantime, Ladbrokes said in a statement: “We apologize that a bet was taken in error. We intend to talk to Mr. Cliff to see if we can make it up to him.”

Ladbrokes Begins Search for New CEO

Ladbrokes Plc, the UK gambling group, has started an intensive search for a new head after its current Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Bell, announced that he is stepping down from his post. There has have been rumors of dissatisfaction amongst shareholders of the company’s performance under Bell’s leadership, although Ladbrokes said Bell’s departure had nothing to do with his relationship with the company directors.

In an interview, the 52 year old Bell said that disquiet by some of the company’s investors was “one of the reasons why I thought it was time for me to let someone else have a go, though genuinely I had been considering stepping down in 2010. I never wanted to be one of those people who stayed on and then felt he should have gone earlier.”

Bell said: “There are shareholders who have not been happy. They have made their feelings known, in some cases quite vociferously, as is their right. I understand that. But it would be wrong to say they acted in concert.”

It is expected that Ladbrokes will search for a replacement from inside the company, although there always exists the possibility of finding a suitable external candidate. Headhunters JCA have been appointed to examine suitable candidates and names such as ex Marks and Spencer director Carl Leaver or easyJet bos Andy Harrison coming up in industry speculation.

Ladbrokes Launches New Look Sportsbook Site

Gibraltar based gaming operator, Ladbrokes, has launched a brand new version of its online sportsbook site and has announced that it will be streaming over 30,000 live sporting events this year alone.

Sporting fans will be happy to note that a wide range of sports will be covered by Ladbrokes.com, including top soccer tournaments from eleven countries, including Italy and Brazil. Also featured will be FA Cup matches, UEFA qualifiers and international games. Other sports covered will include football, tennis such as Wimbledon, snooker, basketball and darts.

Ladbrokes said that the new site would encourage in play betting, with handy links to current sporting events on the site’s homepage.

“The new site further reflects the growing importance of betting in-play and live video streaming content,” said John O'Reilly, Managing Director of Remote Betting and Gaming for Ladbrokes. “This initiative, together with further development of our mobile offering and the development of new markets in Europe, will continue the growth of our sportsbook.”

According to Ladbrokes, it spent over £3 million in rights to broadcast the range of sports on its new site. Players will be able to view the sports events for free, although horseracing coverage would involve a minimum bet of £1.

Account holders will have their balances automatically transferred to the new site.

Reassurance Given to Ladbrokes Online Casino Players after Security Breach

Ladbrokes’ customers are very worried as a result of confidential records, which include their home addresses, customer account numbers, dates of birth, details of their gambling history, phone numbers and email addresses being offered for sale to The Mail on Sunday newspaper by a man with an Australian accept.

The mystery Australian man, who gave his name as “Daniel” gave information on 10,000 customers and also offered the newspaper access to Ladbrokes’ database of 4.5 million customers from the UK and other parts of the world. Daniel claimed to be a security expert who had worked at Ladbrokes in Britain at one time and also claimed to be representing a company based in Melbourne, Australia, by the name of DSS Enterprises. The Sri Lankan-born IT expert, Dinitha Subasinghe, who runs DSS Enterprises, has, however, denied any involvement in the theft of the data although Ladbrokes is listed as a client. Mr Subasinghe reported that he had provided analytical services to Ladbrokes for 18months during 2007 and 2009.

Daniel first approached The Mail on Sunday claiming to have worked as an IT security consultant at Ladbrokes for two years and had been passed the data by a junior employee who was trying to sell it. He was originally going to tip off Ladbrokes but then decided to contact the media about the security breach.

Ladbrokes is presently working with the police, the ICO as well as the newspaper in an attempt to identify and apprehend the culprit. They are also contacting their customers to reassure them that they are doing all that they can in order to protect their personal information and apologized for the breach of security. They added that they do not believe that customer accounts or banking date can be accessed.

Ladbrokes to join European Sports Security Association

Ladbrokes, the UK gambling giant and one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies, has announced that it has joined the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) thus making the company the first bookmaker with both an online as well as an offline operation to join ESSA.

By joining ESSA, Ladbrokes will be responsible for reporting any irregular betting patterns via the association’s Early Warning System in return for which Ladbrokes will be informed by legal and official sporting regulation bodies of any potential manipulation on sporting events.

The Secretary-General of ESSA, Khalid Ali, reported that this is a very important step to ensure that ESSA becomes the industry standard organization having the support of both online and offline operators. They welcome Ladbrokes who they are sure have an important contribution to developing industry-wide standards in that area and he urged all online and offline operators in the industry to work with ESSA.

Ladbrokes Trading Director, Mike O’Kane, commented on the move by saying that the European Sports Security Association is intent on improving the sharing of information between sports bodies and betting operators. He added that the issue is at present surrounded by rumor and sensationalism but that the incidence of betting corruption in sports is really minimal. The integrity and reputation of sport as well as its participants can be protected by giving regulators and sporting bodies a full and accurate picture of unusual betting patterns.

The European Sports Security Association was established by several sportsbooking giants in the industry and has, since 2005, developed a close working relationship and signed memorandums of understanding with UEFA and other sport federations such as IOC, the ATP as well as with FIFA.