Paddy Power
 |
|
| Public company | |
| Traded as | : PLS |
| Industry | Bookmaking |
| Fate | Merged with Betfair, forming Paddy Power Betfair |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
| Revenue | €881.6 million (2014) |
| €163.8 million (2014) | |
| €144.9 million (2014) | |
| Website |
paddypower.com paddypowerplc.com (Corporate) |
Paddy Power is an Irish bookmaker. Offline it conducts business through a chain of licensed betting shops in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and by operating Ireland's largest telephone betting service. Online it offers sports betting, online poker, online bingo, online casino games, and spread betting. It merged with Betfair to create Paddy Power Betfair on 2 February 2016.
Paddy Power was founded in 1988 by the merger of the 40 shops of three Irish bookmakers: Stewart Kenny, David Power, and John Corcoran. Stewart Kenny and Vincent O'Reilly had sold Kenny O'Reilly bookmakers to Coral in 1986 and then opened 10 shops of their own by 1988; he was the CEO of Paddy Power until 2002. John Corcoran's shops had traded as Patrick Corcoran. David Power was a son of Richard Power and one of several inheritors trading under the Richard Power name. The Power name was considered the strongest brand among the merged shops, while the "Paddy" name and green colouring emphasised the chain's Irishness at a time when the fragmented Irish industry was facing competition from British betting chains entering the market in response to changes in the Irish tax code. David Power's son, whose name happens to be Paddy Power (b. 1974/5), is a marketing spokesman for the company.
Paddy Power had an aggressive expansion strategy involving opening prominent shops in most Irish towns, rather than side-streets previously favoured. The firm's novelty bets broadened its media coverage beyond the horseracing news. Its share of the Irish off-course betting market grew from 8% in 1988 to 33% in 2001. Power Lesiure, parent company of Paddy Power PLC, listed on the London Stock Exchange in December 2000 to fund a UK expansion.
At the end of 2005 Paddy Power operated 195 outlets (150 in Ireland and 45 in the UK). The total number of employees was 1,374. On 27 May 2008, it acquired Northern Ireland independent bookmaker McGranaghan Racing, bringing Paddy Power's shop count to 191 in Ireland. In February 2010, the chain had 356 shops with 209 in Ireland, 8 in Northern Ireland and 139 in Great Britain.
The bookmaker is known for offering odds on controversial markets in order to garner publicity, e.g., in November 2008, 16–1 was laid that U.S. President Barack Obama 'would not finish' his first term (this was widely interpreted as his odds of assassination).
...
Wikipedia