Ladbroke starts online TV betting

Gaming giant investigates betting on the Internet and joins Two Way TV to challenge the Lottery

By Marketing Week 13 Dec 1996 12:00 am

Ladbroke Racing is launching an online TV betting service through a tie-up with Two Way TV, and is even considering taking wagers over the Internet.

The schemes come as betting chains look for new ways to reach players who are increasingly shunning betting shops in favour of the National Lottery and other forms of gaming.

Ladbroke has taken a stake of under 20 per cent in Two Way TV, the interactive television service which launches in March with an estimated 15m spend through Saatchi & Saatchi. The service has been on trial for the past year in Birmingham, and is staffed by senior staff from Sega and Granada. It will need at least 500,000 subscribers just to break even.

The betting chain plans to allow viewers to place bets on the outcome of sporting events using interactive TV’s in their own homes.

Ladbroke is also planning to take bets on the results of football matches and which player scores the first goal.

The company says it is looking at offering online betting over the Internet. It says its plans comply with existing legislation and will not bring it into conflict with the Gaming Board. Ladbroke says the same safeguards which exist to prevent children betting by telephone will apply to Two Way TV. Callers are merely asked their age.

Ladbroke launched a Website for the Euro 96 Football Championships with 150 pages of information on the tournament, including betting odds, statistics and results.

Next week, the major chains Ladbroke, Coral and William Hill will launch the Forty Nines game, a daily draw from 49 numbers with fixed odds on picking between one and five numbers correctly.

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