Sportingbet to Focus More Heavily on UK Market

The Financial Times reports that Sportingbet.com will dramatically shift its advertising spending to focus more on the UK market in an effort to compete more effectively with the likes of William Hill and Ladbrokes. 

This strategy is already reflected on the Gambling911.com website, which has managed to capture much of the French Open traffic and nearly the entire betting market related to Britain's Got Talent last week. 

"With Sportingbet as a primary sponsor of the Gambling911.com, we are now focusing on events that were mostly ignored by the Lloydminster, Alberta-based website in the past," says Payton O'Brien, Senior Editor of Gambling911.com.

This includes the 2009 French Open, which has provided Gambling911.com with an unusal spike in search traffic.  The site will also be promoting this weekend's Derby on behalf of Sportingbet. 

Sportingbet.com spends up to £60m on marketing across Europe but investors wanted it to have a bigger impact in the UK, according to Andrew McIver, chief executive.

The UK provides Sportingbet with 6 per cent of its revenue and Mr McIver believes the marketing push will drive that figure up to 10 per cent in 18 months.

"We are coming from a low base and we can compete with the likes of William Hill and Ladbrokes," Mr McIver said, adding that in-running betting had become increasingly popular.

Sportingbet's advertising push has already been boosted after it signed a six-figure, two-year sponsorship deal in March with Wolverhampton Wanderers, a month before the Championship club won promotion to the Premier League, according to the Financial Times. 

The firm continues to witness improved profits since joining the Gambling911 family. European sports betting made up £25m of the £43.8m net gaming revenue. That was 8 per cent up on the third quarter of last year.

Pre-tax profit doubled for the period to £8.3m and earnings per share were 1.5p, compared with 0.6p in the equivalent period.

The Financial Times of London does point out that Sportingbet's poker arm, Paradise Poker, continues to suffer as a result of US facing online poker rooms building more steam in recent months.  Gambling911.com sponsor, UltimateBet.com, stunned many skeptics this past week after it managed to crack the top 6 online poker networks for the first time ever.

Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com