Littlewoods plans phone game with Mirror

Littlewoods Leisure is in talks with The Mirror newspaper about launching a telephone-based fantasy football-style game offering prizes.

The move comes after Littlewoods confirmed that it had axed its Topspot game, a modern version of Spot the Ball.

This was the company’s last attempt to develop a new product to compensate for the decline in its core pools product, which has been hit by the National Lottery.

The Mirror’s promotions manager, Jill Playle, has confirmed the paper is in talks with Littlewoods about some form of fantasy football game, but adds: “We are not in a position to reveal any more.”

One observer says the game may take the form of a list of strikers. Readers can choose three strikers and phone in their selection to The Mirror. Prizes will be offered for players with strikers which score most goals in a week, or the ones that score earliest in matches. The list of strikers could be altered each week.

The pools company is a major advertiser in The Mirror. Littlewoods commercial director Tony Hillyer denies a co-project is imminent.

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