UK

As the William Hill PDC World Darts Championship (WDC) kicks off today at London’s Alexandra Palace (17 December – 3 January), UK bookmakers are gearing up for an extra busy Christmas period with a record £50 million expected to be wagered on the tournament. PDC event organisers announced that a record 66,000 WDC tickets had been sold for this year’s …

Having gained a 90% Ladbrokes shareholder approval, the UK Competition & Markets Authority (UK CMA) has opened its invitation for comment on the proposed £2.3 billion merger of Ladbrokes-Coral. The UK CMA has requested for assistance regarding its review of the planned merger, seeking to research whether a joint enterprise may result in a substantial impacting of commercial competition within …

SBCNews – The Best Coverage for Ice 2016 In the build up to ICE 2016, the biggest expo for the igaming and betting industries SBCNews.co.uk is offering premium high visibility promotional space for industry advertisers. SBCNews special inventory includes Multi-content website overlays Full ‘run of site’ takeover background Premium banner space on homepage and in-page Sponsorship of category SBCNews will …

Betfair co-founder Ed Wray has been named as one of the leading backers in London Fintech start-up Curve, which has secured $2 million (£1.4 million) in seed stage funding. Curve an early stage Fintech start-up aims to replace the mechanisms of the retail banking sectors bankcard, giving customers greater visibility and ease management of their day to day accounts. Led …

888 Holdings has confirmed the closure of online poker room Lucky Ace (www.luckyacepoker.com). The brand will be terminated by 28 December, with its existing player base migrated to 888’s main poker product 888poker.com. The defunct poker brand had been in service for eight years, primarily used by 888 to target the German market. In November 888 had halted new customer …

Scientific Games has announced the promotion of Michael Quartieri to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Quartieri will further serve as corporate secretary succeeding Scott Schweinfurth. Quartieri a nine year Las Vegas Sands Corp leadership veteran joined Scientific Games in November as Corporate Controller. Having served an introductory period assesing Scientific Games Corporation’s operations, Quartieri will now be tasked with leading the …

William Hill has announced that it has extended its title sponsorship of the PDC World Darts Championship at London’s Alexandra Palace until 2020. Ahead of the start of the 2015/16 championship, William Hill marketing released a statement confirming that it had agreed terms with the PDC following the marketing and coverage success of its 2014/15 sponsorship. The 2014/15 William Hill …

British Weather Services is the longest established independent weather operator in the UK. Many sports are weather sensitive, and whether it’s an ice cold day at the Etihad or the heavens have opened at Twickenham, it affects both the result and what is likely to happen during the match. Unsurprisingly this information is something that’s of interest to bookmakers. SBC …

bwin.party Entertainment shareholders have formally approved the firm’s £1.1 billion acquisition by London AIM listed operator GVC Holdings (GVC). Hosting a shareholder ‘extraordinary meeting’, bwin.party governance announced that 99.99% of its investors approved in favour of the reverse takeover by GVC. GVC and bwin.party governance will now work together to officially complete the deal by Q1 2016 and begin the …

With the BHA’s ‘Approved Betting Partner’ (ABP) status set to commence next January, the relationship between UK racing and bookmakers has reached its lowest ebb. Scott Longley examines the debate regarding the proposed racing right, and whether any all-round resolution can be reached in 2016 ________________________ It may be the season of peace and goodwill but it would be a …