Irish casino news and Paddy Power

It’s time to take another look at Irish online casino news, and specifically the fortunes of Irish bookmaker and online gambling operator Paddy Power. Shares in Paddy Power have had a somewhat turbulent time over the past two or three months, and we will have a look at that later, but first it has been reported that Paddy Power seem to have caused a bit of a fuss with their latest advertisement broadcast on Sky Sports. With Cheltenham on the horizon, Paddy Power wanted to add a bit of excitement and raise their profile at the festival, and suggested that they would arrange for a few transgendered ladies to join the race goers on Ladies Day, and ask punters in their words to ‘ spot the stallions from the mares’. A spokesman from Paddy Power commented that it was just a bit of fun and the ad had been approved before transmission. The additional publicity will presumably not be unwelcome. Back to the more important news on this Irish online casino operator, and a quick look at the main elements of the half year financial report. The most obvious news relating to Ireland is the continuing decline in the profitability of the retail estate in Ireland, and the projection that the UK retail operations will soon overtake Ireland in terms of profitability even though there are only 161 shops in the UK compared to 210 in Ireland. The positive news comes from the online casino and sports gambling operations, which contributed 81% of the total operating profit in the first half, although it must be said that 73%of that profit was from operations outside of Ireland. It appears that the interest in sports gambling and playing casino games online has not declined substantially, but the average stakes gambled per customer has reduced. Nevertheless Paddy Power remain optimistic for the future, particularly for their expansion plans for North America.