Ladbrokes Announces New Italian Betting Licences

As first reported by Sportsbetting Pokernews on 24th August, Ladbrokes, the leading UK and European bookmaker, sportsbetting and online poker group, is making an early effort to establish itself in Italy following that country's relaxation in gambling regulation.

Ladbrokes has announced that it has been awarded a total of 142 new betting licences in Italy, following its recent tender application. The new betting licences are categorised as follows:

- 33 dedicated horseracing licences (betting centres)
- 58 dedicated sportsbetting licences (betting centres)
- 51 non-dedicated sports betting licences (betting points)

Ladbrokes explains that the 51 non-dedicated licences or "betting points" refer to outlets such as newsagents, bars or cafes where franchisees will offer a Ladbrokes betting service as an additional product to their core business. Ladbrokes says that it expects the first of its new licences to become operational within three months. The new licences are said to be spread widely throughout Italy.

Ladbrokes has also successfully applied for remote betting licences for horseracing and sport. These have been issued on a non-competitive basis generally to companies that have complied with Italian regulatory standards.

The group has explained that its strategy is to establish an Italian retail estate through both new licences awarded in the tender process and through acquisition of existing centres. During November, Ladbrokes acquired three betting centres in Turin, which represented its "first steps into the Italian market". These centres have begun trading under Ladbrokes ownership in early December 2006. Ladbrokes continues to discuss with relevant parties about acquiring further betting centres.

As mentioned in August, Ladbrokes has already established a joint venture partnership with the Italian odds provider, Pianeta Scommesse. This joint venture established Ladbrokes as a Government-accredited provider to betting centres in the Italian market, where all betting centres are required to work with a provider to connect to Government computers, as well as receive odds and liability management services.

It is estimated that the Italian sports betting market is currently worth around
€2,000,000,000 and the horseracing betting market €2,100,000,000. The total betting and gaming market is estimated to be worth €28,000,000,000. In the UK, the betting sector alone was worth over £45,000,000,000 in stakes in 2005 (Keynote 2006).

Christopher Bell, Chief Executive of Ladbrokes plc said:

"We are very pleased with the outcome of the tender which represents a major step forward for us in Italy. We have appointed an Italian Chief Executive who brings extensive local knowledge of the industry to our operations and we will continue to expand our Italian business through acquiring further existing licences."

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