Info about the bookmaker
Paddy Power is a first class Dublin-based bookmaker, the biggest one in Ireland, established in 1988 as a result of merging of three Irish bookmakers, and now having more than 2,000 employees. The company is listed on both the London and Irish Stock Exchanges. The Irish bookmaker is regulated by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission. In 2009, Paddy Power acquired Sportsbet, Australia's leading bookmaker.
Apart from the telephone and online division, Paddy Power operates a considerable chain of betting shops in Ireland (190 shops including 4 shops at racecourses), in Northern Ireland (8 shops, following the acquisition of the Northern Ireland independent bookmaker McGranaghan Racing in 2008), and in the UK (60 shops). In 2000, Paddy Power launched its online betting service. In 2004, Casino and Games, and in the following year, Poker were added to the list of Paddy Power's Internet products. Bingo and Financial Spread betting were more recent additions.
Expanding internationally, in 2009, Paddy Power acquired 51% stake in Sportsbet Ltd (leading Australian bookmaker with more than 15 experience). Therefore, Paddy Power Plc profts come, in the first place, from UK residents and, in the second place, from Australians.
Paddy Power is also known for their controversial and funny adverts which aim to promote their image of a customer-friendly company (see pp-gallery.com). The company is also commited to helping charities in Ireland.
Paddypower.com’s betting offer consists of sports and outstanding non-sports betting. Sports betting allows you to bet on the usual disciplines such as football, basketball, athletics, aussie rules, horse and greyhound racing (both fixed odds and tote betting), cricket, snooker and a few more disciplines. Besides sports-related bets, players can try their hands at the excellent and very broad novelty bets which include such categories as TV specials, Music, Current affairs, Politics, Big Brother, Sports novelties, Weather, Hollywood and more.
Strongly recommended is Paddy Power's football section. Firstly, their range of bet types is one of the best out there (e.g. win-draw-win, handicaps, half-time, correct score, first goalscorer, last goalscorer, anytime goalscorer and many more). Some insightful football betting tips are available in the PP's Over the Line blog. There is also a tournament called Last Man Standing in which the key to beat the other contestants lies in your ability of predicting the winner of any Premier League fixture continually on a week-by-week basis.
Similarly above the average, is handsomely-prepared horse racing section which comprises of textual and audio racing commentaries, list of horses from A to Z, horse form guide and Guaranteed Prices promotion.
Paddypower.com’s gaming offer includes poker (with an excellent Poker Academy, and many poker tournaments), casino (over 60 downloadable games, over 80 instant play flash games, live casino with blackjack, roulette and baccarat), new financial trader, broad and neat games section (overall more than 150 games), and lotteries (including lotteries from Ireland, Spain, UK, Hong Kong, Germany).
Paddy Power has a sponsorship agreement with the Welsh Swansea City F.C. Which currently plays in the second-tier Football League Championship. They are also the official betting partner of Chelsea FC.
Since 2005, the Irish Poker Open, the world's 2nd longest running no-limit Texas hold'em tournament, and since 2008, the Irish Winter Festival of Poker are also sponsored by the Dublin-based company. Additionally, the Irish bookmaker supports Century FM radio network.
Between the years 1999 and 2009, the Irish-owned bookmaking company sponsored the Irish Greyhound Derby at the Shelbourne Park Stadium in Dublin.
Interestingly, during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Paddy Power sponsored Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong (a.k.a. The Snow Leopard), the first Ghanaian to qualify for the Winter Olympics (the Slalom and Giant Slalom).
