HISTORY |
Ladbrokes Group was founded by Cyril Stein and
his uncle Max Parker in 1961 (although the company origin stretches
back to 1886!) . Stein bought Ladbrokes’ first betting shop a year
later and introduced fixed odds football betting shortly after.
Ladbrokes floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1967, when it had
an initial market capitalisation of just under Ł1 million. From 1987
until 2006 Ladbrokes owned a major hotel business, including the
Hilton hotel brand outside the United States. The company even
operated under the name of 'Hilton Group' from 1999 to 2006. On
December 29, 2005 'Hilton Group' announced that it would sell the
hotel operations to 'Hilton Hotels Corporation' for Ł3.3bn ($5.7bn)
and will readopt the 'Ladbrokes' name. In February 2006 the company
announced plans to pay investors Ł4.2 billion and stated that it
intended to expand its gambling business internationally and was
looking at markets such as China, Italy and Spain. |
COMPANY INFO |
'Ladbrokes International Ltd' is the largest
betting company in the UK and largest retail bookmaker in the world.
The company owns over 2600 retail betting shops divided between the
UK, Ireland and Belgium. It also operates several online gambling
websites offering sportsbook, poker, casino, games, bingo and
backgammon. Main website Ladbrokes.com is online since 1998. In
addition to an extensive retail presence, Ladbrokes is a
world-leader in remote gambling. Its telephone betting services have
120,000 active customers and over 500,000 customers gamble over the
internet. The company employs more than 14,000 people in five
countries currently, making it the world’s largest fixed-odds
betting company. Postal Address: Ladbrokes Limited, Imperial House,
Imperial Drive, Rayners Lane, Harrow, Middlesex, HA2 7JW, United
Kingdom.
Category evaluation: EXCELLENT |
>>> sub-category: REGULATION
|
Licensed in the UK (telephone and internet betting operations)
and in Gibraltar (gaming operations).
Category evaluation: EXCELLENT
|
ODDS |
Being the UK leading bookmaker (in terms of retail
betting shops), Ladbrokes can afford to offer slightly lower odds
than market averages. They are traditionally careful with most
markets (especially outrights and underdog odds). Basketball odds
are quite good though, certainly higher than average. Ladbrokes'
fixed odds margin varies from 8% to 12%, depending on the market,
and 2-way markets (such as asian handicaps, spreads, etc.) are
operated on 4-5 % margin. Odds are released 3-4 days before the
event usually, which is standart. Ladbrokes don't change their odds
(at least bigger markets ones) as much as other UK bookies do.
Sometimes you can catch very good odds on favourites with Ladbrokes.
Category evaluation: SHOULD BE BETTER |
>>> sub-category: SOCCER
|
Soccer odds don't make exception from Ladbrokes' general policy,
they could be higher definitely. Even big leagues are offered with
7-8 % margin (fixed odds), smaller ones - with 10-11 %. Asian
handicaps and totals odds (2-way markets) include 4-5 % margin. Odds
on favourites deserve a look though, even top of the markets
sometimes. Ladbrokes offer a good number of markets, especially for
the bigger leagues, where you can find many special bets (corners,
goalscorers, half-time/full-time, etc.).
Category evaluation: POOR
|
>>> sub-category: US SPORTS
|
Ladbrokes' American sports odds are average for
the industry, mostly 1.90/1.90 style. Here you can find a good
number of markets available for most matches, some of them aren't
too easy to find elsewhere.
Category evaluation: AVERAGE
|
OFFER |
Ladbrokes offers a large variety of sports, ranging
from mainstream categories such as Soccer, Tennis and Golf, to
regional interests. Sports offer include: american football,
athletics, badminton, bandy, baseball, basketball, bowls, boxing,
cricket, cycling, darts, gaelic sports, golf, greyhounds, floorball,
handball, hockey, horse racing, ice hockey, motor sports, rugby
league, rugby union, snooker, soccer, tennis, trotting, volleyball,
water polo, winter sports. Special bets on politics and different
awards competitions are offered regularly (Ladbrokes was the first
bookmaker to introduce betting on politics back in 1960's).
Financial bets are the other very strong Ladbrokes feature. You'll
hardly find another bookmaker with larger offer of financial bets.
Main categories are currency exchange rates and stock indices.
Category evaluation: VERY GOOD |
>>> sub-category: SOCCER
|
Soccer list on offer includes: all
major International competitions, all major European leagues (UK -
covering almost all the levels of English and Scottish football,
Spain, Italy, Germany and France - covered down to third level
divisions), Netherlands and Belgium, Portugal, Scandinavia, major
North and South American leagues, Japan. Overall their soccer list
covers all traditional soccer betting markets but you won't find
many exotic and less known leagues with Ladbrokes.
Category evaluation: AVERAGE |
>>> sub-category: US SPORTS
|
All major US sports are covered: american
football (NFL), basketball (NBA), baseball (MLB), ice hockey (NHL).
Category evaluation: EXCELLENT
|
>>> sub-category: LIVE BETTING
|
Ladbrokes live betting schedule isn't as rich as
Bwin's or Bet365's, but still richer than average bookmakers' one.
Around 15 markets are available for almost every live event though,
which is very good number. Betting types include: outcome, totals,
asian handicap in-play, goalscorers, next goal, time of goals,
correct score, halfs result, etc.
Category evaluation: AVERAGE
|
>>> sub-category: CASINO, POKER & GAMES
|
Customers have two options for accessing
Ladbrokes' casino: downloading and installing the casino client
(stand-alone application) or playing directly in their browsers. All
major categories of casino games are offered: card and table games,
video slots and video poker, progressives, etc. All games can be
played for real money or for fun only, with 'play' money. Poker
players can also choose between playing in their broswers directly
or downloading and installing a separate client (2 versions are
available for the client - 'normal' and one with 3D avatars). All
major poker games are offered: Texas Hold'em (Fixed, Pot and No
Limit), Omaha and Stud poker. You can play at cash ring tables,
sit'n'go tables and many tournaments (including freerolls).
Ladbrokes ofers different luck games, backgammon, lottos and bingo
too.
Category evaluation: EXCELLENT
|
BETTING PROCEDURE |
As mentioned above users have all-time access to the
'Quick betting menu'. Your betting slip is always visible in the
right. Very rich list of combination bet types and systems are
available in case of multiple selections in the slip. Overall
betting procedure is very fast, reliable and secure. Even
inexperienced users won't have any difficulties and can start
betting right from the start.
Category evaluation: EXCELLENT |
