Betfair has relaunced it’s iPad app with a list of new and improved user updates that customers are giving the thumbs up too!

The new relaunch features that also allow you to:
- Place back and lay bets on any market in the Betfair exchange.
- Check the profit and loss (P&L) on the markets where you have matched bets.
- Check your active bets, update and cancel bets that haven’t been matched.
- Check basic account details and manage deposits and withdrawals.
- Read betting tips and insight including exclusive columns from Betfair’s Ambassadors: Lee Dixon, Paul Nicholls, Michael Vaughan, and Will Greenwood.

According to Betfair this app is ‘the first of a string of new mobile releases’ and features an intuitive landing page with ‘easy access to the most popular events along with live scores’.

“This app is a game-changer for our customers, offering them a seamless betting experience that replicates the fixed web while making use of the unique features available on iPad,” said Raj Vemulapalli, Mobile Engineering Vice-President and Mobile Technologies Head for Betfair.

“Mobile is the coming force in the betting industry and the shift from online to mobile is in many ways more exciting than the shift from offline to online.” “Not only are people moving over from website to mobile, but there is incremental value from that,” according to head of product Anil Bhagchandani. “Customers who were purely website and who then start using mobile almost always stay longer, bet more and have a higher ARPU.”

“Mobile is increasingly important to Betfair’s bottom line and product launches such as this are now key strategic milestones,” said Tony McAlister, Chief Technology Officer for Betfair.

“In addition, the fact that this app was developed in just two months out in San Francisco shows that our decision to launch a US technology office in Silicon Valley is already paying off. I hope this is the first of many US developed products that will extend our lead in the online betting space.”

What’s New in Version 2.0

- A What’s Hot section listing the most popular events and a dedicated section for Horse Racing.
- Live scores for football and tennis matches.
- New market view which allows quick access to related markets and also the ability to place more than one bet at a time on a market.
- News section containing betting news and tips from Betfair’s Ambassadors Lee Dixon, Paul Nicholls, Michael Vaughan, and Will Greenwood.
- Improved My Account functionality – now you can deposit and withdraw funds without having to leave the market you’re on.

Reported by Maggie B.

Intertops is back for the 6th London Affiliate Conference in January 2012. LAC will be opened by the glamorous iGB Affiliate Award ceremony on the 26th of January and will be followed by three days of conferences, exhibitions and networking events.

LAC 2012 takes place from January 26 to 29 at Old Billingsgate Market.

“We’ve got some great friends and business partners in this industry and the Sunday Session is always a good opportunity to spend some relaxed time with them after a busy week at LAC,” read a statement from Intertops Affiliate.

“The Intertops guys always pull their fingers out of their pocket and spend on this,” said Alex Pratt from event organiser iGaming Business.

“It’s a different type of party as it is a much more relaxed affair in a traditional English pub with beer flowing and fires burning. Lots of people tell me it’s one of their favourite events at our iGaming affiliate conferences.”

Intertops has a wide range of interesting products to offer: A Sportsbook with highly competitive odds, a state-of-the-art Casino and a great Poker Room.

Reported by Maggie B.

Ladbrokes has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Stadium Technology Group, a privately held software company headquartered in Las Vegas, NV. Providing risk management software to licensed gaming operators for their race and sports book.

Ralph Topping, William Hill’s chief executive, welcomed a “very positive” performance.

“Going into 2011 we were predicted to face a challenging consumer backdrop but our overall performance shows we’ve seen the benefit of being a predominantly low ticket leisure activity,” he said.

The company said operating profit in its retail division – its biggest single revenue generator which includes machines and over-the-counter bets – declined by 4 per cent to about £196m.

Unibet with F.C. København and FC Midtjylland signs 3-year sponsorship agreements making the Swedish online gaming operator the exclusive betting partner for both clubs.

The deal will see an increase in the entertainment and media FCK fans can expect to find on match days. Lions CEO Anders Hørsholt was on hand to speak to FCK.DK about the new agreement:

As the gaming market in Denmark has now been partially liberalised, Danish football has become a focus for foreign gaming providers. By virtue of our position as the best football team in Scandinavia and a regular participant in European competition, we are an attractive partner. We have negotiated with a variety of betting providers, but Unibet has proved to be the single most interesting partner.

Unibet will be Denmark’s favourite betting provider, and we see sponsorship of FC Copenhagen as a natural step on this road. We are convinced that the loyal fans of FC Copenhagen will benefit from our initiatives in this regard.

Unibet

“Unibet is focused on being a dedicated gaming operator in Denmark, so we are delighted to announce this partnership with two of the most ambitious clubs in Denmark,” Unibet’s general manager for Denmark, Kim Olesen, said this week.

“The level of ambition in Copenhagen and Herning accords well with the thoughts we have about our own position in the Danish gaming market. Unibet wants to be the preferred online betting operator in Denmark and the cooperation with F.C. Copenhagen and FC Midtjylland supports our ambition and commitment in the Danish market.

“It is two unique clubs, each with its own sharp profile: FCK has for several seasons demonstrated its international strength and have represented Denmark excellent in the European club competitions, while FCM is strongly rooted in its region and for several years has been developing local football talents from its own academy. ”

Anders Hørsholt, CEO of F.C. København said: “Unibet has shown a particular interest and commitment to activate the sponsorship towards F.C. Københavns fans both on and between match days. We are looking forward to this collaboration and are confident that the sponsorship will be of great benefit to Unibet, F.C. København and the fans.”

“Unibet is the closest thing you [can] get to a perfect match with FC Midtjylland,” said FC Midtjylland sports director Jens Ørgaard. “Unibet is a well-known operator, and has, like we do, a desire to challenge the established. Unibet understood immediately the potential of our unique regional club cooperation, and could therefore make an offer that was interesting for both FC Midtjylland, but also for our 150 cooperative clubs whom will play an important role in cooperation with Unibet. ”

Reported by Maggie B.

Frequently styled ‘The Gentleman Bookmaker, Victor Chandler is often credited as the first bookmaker to recognise the importance of online gambling. The story began back in 1925 when Victor’s grandfather, William, opened up Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium.

In 1975 Victor Chandler took over the running of the business heralding the start of a rapid expansion through a series of pioneering ventures.

The decision to change the brand name is to ensure consistency and instant recognition across all international markets. BetVictor is already successfully running across Europe, and will now be the banner under which the UK operation trades.

Chairman of BetVictor, Victor Chandler said:

“As a company we are always innovating and moving forward, as well as extending our brand across new territories. The UK will continue to be the fulcrum of our international business and it makes perfect sense that the same brand name is used here as in foreign territories.

“I personally guarantee that we will continue to provide our superb range of betting opportunities across a comprehensive range of sporting events.”

Reported by Maggie B.

Bwin.party, formed by the merger of UK-based Partygaming and Austria’s Bwin, has a 4 million euro ($5.09 million) sponsorship deal for the Portuguese soccer league cup, which is now in jeopardy.

A Portuguese court has ordered Bwin.party digital, the world’s biggest listed online gaming company, to remove ads and sponsorship from Portuguese sports competitions after labeling its activities illegal.

“As of Monday, the Portuguese professional football league (LPFP) is obliged to remove all advertising that refers to Bwin,” the LPFP said in a statement. It said the ruling was harmful to the national game and that it will appeal.

“The court failed to take into account EU law. One cannot aggressively advertise and expand games on the one hand and keep foreign competition out on the other hand,” said a Bwin spokesman.

A preliminary ruling last year deemed Bwin’s activities illegal because Portugal does not recognise online gambling companies.

And a court in Porto enforced the immediate removal of all Bwin advertising as of Monday.

“We are happy with this decision, it was a positive one. We pay for extremely expensive licences so we want the state to combat illegal operators who have unfair advantages,” said Artur Mateus, a manager of the Portuguese Casino Association.

“We will suspend all sponsorship and advertising,” Bwin said in a statement.

“It is time for the state to legislate and tax online gambling instead of banning it. Regulating it is in the interest of the consumer, the economy and the state budget,” Bwin’s lawyer, Eduardo Serra Jorge, said. ($1 = 0.7865 euro)

Reported by Maggie B.

Gov. Christie has been said to be in agreement with a bill to allow the state Casino Control Commission to issue licenses to casinos and racetracks to accept bets on some professional and collegiate events giving allowance to horse tracks and casinos and their partners the opportunity to offer sports betting.

Tony Rodio, president and chief executive officer of Tropicana Casino and Resort, stated sports betting would be “a tremendous boost” for Atlantic City by adding another attraction for gaming customers.

“There is such an influx of people into Las Vegas with those high-profile sports-betting events,” he said using the Super Bowl and other major events as examples on how Atlantic City will benefit.

The Casino Association of New Jersey, a trade group representing Atlantic City’s gaming industry, called the legislation “an important first step” in efforts to legalize sports betting.

“If and when the federal ban is overturned, this law would permit casinos to accept wagers on sporting events, adding another amenity to enhance our ability to compete and grow as a destination resort,” Bob Griffin, the association’s president, said in a statement. “Legalized sports betting would provide an economic boost for Atlantic City and the entire state of New Jersey as it would attract more tourists to our city and its world-class entertainment, thriving restaurants, brand-name retail shopping and famous Boardwalk.”

“You have to be realistic,” state Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, said after the bill cleared the state Senate. “It’s not going to have the impact that it would have had had we been able to get it passed 20 years ago when it was first proposed.”

He said he believed that if the federal courts found the law unconstitutional, then it would open the door to sports betting in all 50 states. This proposal gets New Jersey ready for that possibility.

Sen. Jeff Van Drew, who sponsored an earlier version of the bill in the Assembly, said sports wagering has the potential to transform Atlantic City’s casinos and New Jersey’s horse tracks, and would make the state the premier East Coast gaming destination.

A news release from state Senate Democrats cited figures from Club CalNeva, a Las Vegas-based company that operated more than 30 sports books, in estimating that the new measure could bring $1.3 billion in sports wagering gross revenues and $120 million in tax revenue to the Garden State

Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said “now to finally see it get closer to the finish line, after about a decade, is a good feeling.”

The legislation was approved 35-2 in the Senate and passed 73-0 in the Assembly.

Reported by Maggie B.

Bet365 is once again proving that with fresh thinking and smart campaigning you will succeed at giving your customers what they want and as well making new customers at the same time.

Recently, bet365 has partnered with Watch&Bet, a major supplier of live sports video to online sportsbooks. Watch&Bet enables a sportsbook to watch and bet in-play from their mobile devices.

Watch&Bet has agreements with 200 rights holders and events globally and streams over 11,800 fully produced live sports events every year, making it easier for you to watch live sport and horse racing on the go.

bet365′s CTO Martin Davies said: “We are taking mobile very seriously. There’s a similar excitement as 10 years ago when we started to explore the full potential of the Internet” “Our software development teams have cracked a number of difficult technology challenges to enable us to be one of the first companies to offer a video streaming service across multiple mobile platforms. As connection speeds still need to catch up, we have designed our product to identify what speed the user is on and deliver the best experience that their phone will allow.”

“Mobile phones are less challenging than computers because everything is optimised for one size of screen. That means that we can focus on the performance and speed of delivery rather than rendering for different screen sizes,” said Davies.

bet365 will also be offering the tablet version of Watch & Bet which will appear in 2012.

About Watch & Bet

Watch&Bet launched in November 2005 having secured the UK rights to stream the crucial playoff’s for the 2006 FIFA World Cup exclusively via the Watch&Bet service to bluesq.com and betfair.com.

Since 2007, we have expanded our portfolio of sports content from under 1,000 live events covering predominantly football and tennis, to over 11,800 covering all the major sports and many more. To accompany this, we are continually investing in the development of our technology platform.

We now work with 31 of the leading global sportsbooks.

Reported by Maggie B.

bet365 is one Britain’s biggest online success stories, with takings for the year to 31 March rising 22% to £501m – a turnover almost as large as online grocer Ocado – as bets rose 58%.

In comparison to its UK rivals, revenues were over 11 per cent ahead of Betfair and more than the online revenues of William Hill and Ladbrokes combined.

With a new marketing campaign, bet365 reports flat profits from online betting and gaming of £93.7 million off of turnover of £439 million.

The group made a pre-tax profit of £91m despite absorbing rising losses from its majority stake in Premier League football club Stoke City. Bet365′s share of losses from the club, which is chaired by 73-year-old bookmaker, serial entrepreneur and Labour donor Peter Coates, almost doubled to £7.4m.

The soaring success of the group has left publicity-shy Denise Coates arguably the UK’s most successful self-made businesswoman. We recently reported that Denise Coates had been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list by being appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

She owns just over half the shares in bet365, which have generated dividend payouts in the last three years totalling £37.5m. If she is the group’s highest paid director, accounts filed with Companies House suggest she also received pay and pension contributions of £4.5m last year, up from £1.3m in 2010.

bet365 Group Limited, is a United Kingdom based gambling company. bet365 is one of the world’s leading online gambling groups with over 6 million customers in 200 different countries. The Group employs over 1,700 people and is the largest private employer in the city of Stoke-On-Trent.

Reported by Maggie B.

Bookmaker William Hill has signed a two-and-a-half-year sponsorship deal with The Football Association (FA). The two-and-a-half year deal means that the FA has the first commercial partnership English soccer’s governing body has ever signed with a betting firm and has now filled its roster of main sponsors and second-tier “supporters” for the four-year cycle to the Brazil World Cup in 2014.

William Hill will be entitled to advertising and hospitality rights as well as the use of England team and FA Cup branding. Financial terms were not released. Other sponsors in the second-tier official include, McDonald’s, Carlsberg, Mars, Umbro and Tesco.

Peter Daire, head of sponsorship at the FA, said, “We are delighted to have William Hill on board. They have a strong track record in sports sponsorship and a considerable online and high-street presence that will enable us to strengthen our communication platforms for England and The FA Cup. In return, William Hill will benefit from an association with two of the highest-profile football sponsorship properties in the world.”

“We have been looking for sponsorship opportunities from which we can reward and engage with our customers for the events they most enjoy,” said Ralph Topping, William Hill chief executive.

“This deal with the FA will help us to achieve our objectives of developing the prominence of our brand and increasing market share in all our business channels.”

William Hill chief marketing officer Kristof Fahy added, “This is an excellent deal for both parties and it gives us some very good opportunities to develop our brand across a wide variety of channels. The England and FA Cup branding and imagery will enable williamhill.com to promote its services and products that we can offer to our Casino, Games, Sportsbook, Bingo and Poker customers.”

Ralph Topping also added, “Our ‘Official Betting Partner’ status of The FA Cup complements our existing partnership with the Scottish Football Association and our sponsorship of the Scottish Cup with which we are already extremely delighted and it becomes a welcome addition to our quality range of sponsorships within **darts, snooker and racing.

“The next two-and-a-half years are an exciting time for UK football and we’re delighted to now be part of all of those events.”

Reported by Maggie B.