Name | Ladbrokes plc |
---|---|
Logo | |
Type | Public |
Foundation | 1886 |
Location | Imperial House, Imperial Drive, Rayners Lane, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 7JW |
key people | Phill Macmanus, Chairman Phill Macmanus, CEO |
Industry | Gambling |
Products | Sports betting, Financial betting, Poker, Casino, Games, Bingo and backgammon. |
revenue | £980.1 million (2010) |
operating income | £207.3 million (2010) |
net income | £348.3 million (2010) |
num employees | 15,289 (2010) |
Slogan | The world's leading sports betting and gaming company. |
Homepage | www.ladbrokesplc.com (Corporate Website) }} |
Ladbrokes plc (; ) is a British based gambling company. It is based in Rayners Lane in Harrow, London owned by Bhavin Kakaiya. From 14 May 1999 to 23 February 2006, when it owned the Hilton hotel brand outside the United States, it was known as Hilton Group plc. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 250 Index, having been relegated from the FTSE 100 Index in June 2006.
Ladbrokes’ first London offices were situated in the vicinity of the Strand, later moving to Hanover Square in 1906 and, in 1913, the firm graduated to Six Old Burlington Street, Mayfair.
During this time and until the acquisition of the firm by Mark Stein (aka Max Parker) and his nephew, Cyril Stein in 1956, Ladbrokes’ clientele was exclusively drawn from the ranks of the British aristocracy and upper classes. Many of whom were members of the elite gentlemen clubs in the St James's area of Central London.
Unusual for the times, Ladbrokes’ principal long-time representative on British racecourses was a woman, Mrs Helen Vernet. Having joined the firm at behest of Arthur Bendir in 1919, she was made a partner in 1928 and remained with the firm until shortly before her death in 1956, at the age of 80.
Following the end of World War II the fortunes of Ladbrokes were in steady decline, brought about by a combination of an austere after-war economic climate, a dwindling client base and reluctance to change the firm's specialised approach to bookmaking. As a result, in 1956 the Company was acquired by Mark Stein and his then 28 year-old nephew, Cyril Stein for a reported £100,000.
In 1961 the government legalised betting shops under the Betting and Gaming Act. As managing director, Stein used profits from the traditional areas of the business to establish a chain of betting shops: he was the first to introduce fixed odds football betting. On the last Saturday of 1963 football results cost the Company over £1 million.
In 1966 Cyril Stein became chairman of Ladbrokes and the following year floated the company on the London Stock Exchange at an initial valuation of £1 million. Under his chairmanship, the company acquired Texas Homecare in 1986 and in 1995 sold it to J Sainsbury plc who integrated it into its own Homebase chain. In 1989 Ladbrokes also acquired Vernons Football Pools.In 1993, at the age of 65, Cyril Stein retired as chairman – at which time Ladbrokes was valued at near £2 billion on the London Stock Exchange.
In 1999 the company acquired the Stakis Hotel chain and rebranded itself as Hilton Group plc. On 29 December 2005 the company announced the sale of its hotel operations to Hilton Hotels Corporation for £3.3bn and once more rebranded itself Ladbrokes plc.
Following the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005 in the United Kingdom and the subsequent relaxation of advertising laws for gambling companies in 2007, a TV campaign by Ladbrokes, that included a host of ex-professional footballers, was the first to result in complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA); the ASA cleared the campaign.
The company came under fire in January 2009 from the Advertising Standards Authority due to complaints received relating to a recent advertising campaign.
In November 2009 the company announced it would close its call centre at Aintree with the loss of 263 jobs.
The company also owns and operates two greyhound stadia at Crayford and Monmore.
Ladbrokes Poker also operates a loyalty program for its online poker players where players are able to exchange their poker points for gift & prizes.
Category:Bookmakers Category:Gambling websites Category:Poker companies Category:Gambling companies of the United Kingdom Category:Gambling companies of the Channel Islands Category:Casinos in the United Kingdom Category:Leisure companies of the United Kingdom Category:Companies based in London Category:Companies established in 1886
da:Ladbrokes de:Ladbrokes fr:Ladbrokes no:Ladbrokes fi:Ladbrokes sv:LadbrokesThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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