TELEVISION AND TOUCH SCREENS GOOD FOR LADBROKES

29 February 2008

Nuggets from the UK gambling giant's latest annual review


The business reports from listed companies are frequently full of interesting nuggets of information, and Ladbroke's latest review this week was no exception. The Times Online broke out two items worthy of comment in the effectiveness of Ladbrokes recent television advertising and the popularity of its in-shop touchscreen betting terminals.

According to the report, a GBP 5 million television advertising campaign launched by the gambling giant between October and December last year significantly boosted its performance. The UK campaign, which featured football pundits including Ian Wright and Ally McCoist, resulted in a 25 percent jump in the amount staked on the sport.

Ladbrokes was the first bookmaker to take advantage of the scrapping of the ban on television advertising that came into effect last September with the Gambling Act. Since then, Skybet and Betfair have followed suit.

The group has not yet decided whether to repeat the campaign although it confirmed it was preparing to launch advertisements promoting its Internet bingo and casino businesses representing a marketing investment of some GBP 4 million as part of a big push behind its successful e-gaming division. M&C Saatchi will again be contracted for this intiative.

Chris Bell, Ladbrokes CEO said he would be stepping up television advertising this year.

Advertising on television and extended opening hours has given a huge boost to the popularity of controversial touch-screen roulette machines in betting shops, too.

Ladbrokes revealed that these changes brought a 31.8 percent increase in gross win - the amount lost by punters - on touch-screen terminals in its 2 200 UK betting shops over the last four months of 2007. Over the same period, traditional "over-the-counter" bets increased by just 1.6 percent. Figures earlier in the week showed a similar trend at William Hill.

There could be clouds on the horizon, however. Earlier this month the UK sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, said the government had asked the Gambling Commission to review the impact of these machines. This was in the light of the commission's earlier study which found that one in nine of those who played the roulette terminals were problem gamblers. The commission is expected to report by April next year.

For 2007, Ladbrokes' UK betting shop machine gross win grew to GBP 248 million, with an average weekly take per machine of GBP 585.

Bets over the counter fell last year by 3.8 percent to GBP 491 million. Gamblers were attracted away from traditional sports bets by better odds and lower skill requirements offered by machines. One GBP in every three lost to Ladbrokes during 2007 was through a gaming terminal.

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