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Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Limited
Sunday Times (London)
January 9, 2005, Sunday
HEADLINE: Paddy Power targets online poker profits
BYLINE: Ciaran Hancock
BODY:
PADDY POWER, Ireland's biggest bookmaker, will
this week launch a suite of online poker games to capitalise on
one of the most lucrative areas of internet betting, writes Ciaran
Hancock.
The bookmaker is planning a "soft launch"
of Paddy Power Poker, which will involve an initial 200 players
who have been pre-registered. An icon for the poker games was
recently added to the Paddypower.ie website, although this has
not yet been enabled. Analysts estimate that about £100m
(E143m) a year is bet on online
poker in the UK alone.
The company is targeting Irish and British
players but the games will also be open to residents of some other
European countries.
Paddy Power will act as a facilitator for
players, offering them the opportunity to play live over the internet
with players hosted by other sites.
This makes it no-risk betting for the bookmaker, which will typically
earn about 2% of each pot.
The company will also organise online tournaments,
charging a fee for each entry.
Players will be required to put a minimum
E10 or £10 into their betting accounts but the bookmaker
will not extend credit. Novices will be able to play for stakes
as low as 5p or 5c and small-stake gamblers are expected to account
for a large volume of traffic on the site.
Paddy Power has already enjoyed success with
its online casino, which was launched in January 2004. In the
first six months of last year, the bookmaker earned an operating
profit of E1m from the venture. The company was also recently
voted by readers of the Racing Post as the best online betting
website among 18 different providers in the UK and Ireland.
Online betting has revolutionised the image
of poker. The game has also had its profile raised by high-stake
tournaments carried by Channel 4 and Sky in Britain.
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