The storm clouds gather over the Irish betting market

Storm clouds gather over the Irish betting market

At the start of July Horse Racing Ireland announced half-year figures. In relation to betting turnover, whilst the Irish Tote saw only a modest decline of 1% in total turnover, on-course bookmakers fared worse, recording a near 14% drop in their turnover compared with the same period last year.

The downturn in on-course betting turnover continued at the Galway festival. Turnover during the seven days totalled €17,472,751, down €3,293,114, or 16 per cent compared with last year. Justin Carthy of Chronicle Bookmakers was rteported as saying; "The guys who were having grands and two grands on over the last couple of years were having just €200 and €300 on last week - and that obviously affected turnover in the ring. The big players were missing and unlike in previous years we didn't lay one €50,000 bet during the week. We would have taken a few in the last couple of years."

In August 2008 Ladbrokes was forced to issue a correction notice for its Interim Results for the half year ended 30 June 2008. The Group noted that its "Other European Retail - Ireland" section of the Business Review contained two errors regarding its like for like gross win and cost figures. The text stated that like for like constant currency gross win increased by 1.7% whereas it should have read declined by 4.4%.

Ladbrokes is now the largest operator in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The acquisition of the 54 shop Eastwood chain in February and six McCartans shops in April increased its scale in Northern Ireland to 76 shops as at 30 June 2008. The acquisition of a further seven shops in the Republic of Ireland brought its there to 206 shops. Ladbrokes said that overall gross win in Ireland increased by 45.1% to £47.6 million reflecting the benefit of the acquisitions and favourable exchange rates. Like for like constant currency gross win declined by 4.4%. During the period under review operating costs in Ireland rose by 59.2% to £28.5 million (H1 2007: £17.9 million) principally due to the increase in shop numbers, with like for like costs, excluding Turf TV, up by 5.7%.

On the betting front, Irish leaning bookmakers were left counting the cost after Padraig Harrington's victory at the US PGA championship. Paddy Power revealed that €3m had been collected by punters after his win, whilst Ladbrokes said that they had paid out just under €2.5m to their irish customers. Dundalk based Boylesports reputedly paid out almost €1m, whilst William Hill allegedly lost €963,000. Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and William Hill had all offered up odds of 20/1 on the irish golfer winning another major title, following on from his recent victory in the British Open. One punter walked away with €60,000 following a €2,500 bet each way at 18/1 with Boylesports. Paddy Power told the irish Independent that they had now paid out close to €5m on Harrington in the last month alone; "We may have dodged a bullet at the British Open, but we've got it right between the eyes this time -- every second bet was on Harrington," he said.