TIDMSBT
RNS Number : 7400A
Sportingbet PLC
14 October 2009
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Sportingbet.com announces voluntary payment of Racing Levy
and signs three-year sponsorship deal of ROA Awards.
Global bookmaker sportingbet.com today announced a dramatic increase in its
support of British horseracing.
Already a significant supporter of racing through sponsorship, sportingbet.com
has elected to make a voluntary payment to the Levy Board, equivalent to 10% of
its gross profits on bets taken on British racing from British and European
customers, from August of next year.
"An important part of our UK revenue is derived from British horseracing," said
Andrew McIver, Group Chief Executive of sportingbet.com.
"We have recently set ourselves the goal of increasing this revenue stream and
have stepped up our sponsorship activity in British racing.
We do all we can to assist the industries our customers bet on and we're
delighted to demonstrate our support of the British racing industry by
committing to a voluntary payment of the Levy. This equates to the statutory
payments we would make if we were based in the UK and, as a mark of good faith,
we are happy to go the extra mile in agreeing that the figures should undergo an
audit," he said.
Coinciding with the announcement, Sportingbet joined forces with the Racehorse
Owners Association in a three-year sponsorship deal. This will see the
sportingbet.com name attached to the highly-prestigious ROA Awards evening at
the London Hilton on December 3rd.
The agreement was confirmed after extensive discussions with the Racehorse
Owners Association. The ROA President Paul Dixon said he was "delighted" with
the outcome to several weeks' of discussions that were instigated by Council
member Tony Hirschfeld.
"We hope this will set an example to other bookmakers who are either offshore or
are planning to take part of their business offshore," said Dixon.
"We should do everything in our power to support those bookmakers who support
British racing. We should now put the name of sportingbet.com in lights and help
them promote their business to their British-based customers.
A very apt springboard for this promotion will be our Awards ceremony at the
Hilton on December 3rd. It promises to be the best yet," Mr Dixon said.
The Levy Board Chief Executive, Douglas Erskine-Crum, also described the
sportingbet.com decision to contribute to the levy as "very welcome news".
He said: "Sportingbet.com has explicitly recognised the importance of British
horseracing to its business model in undertaking to pay levy arising from bets
taken on our sport.
"Paying levy enhances the quality of horseracing, which in turn benefits the
betting industry. It is in the betting industry's interest to develop this
virtuous circle. We are continuing to work with Government as it addresses the
wider betting and gaming environment but, in the meantime, we welcome
sportingbet's initiative and call upon all betting operators based outside
Britain to adopt the same constructive policy."
End.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Consumer, Trade and News Media:
Neil Johnson
JCPR
neil.johnson@jcpr.com
+44 (0)20 3047 4022
+44 (0)7940 228 569
Financial and Business:
George Hudson
Maitland
T: +44 (0)20 7379 5151
ghudson@maitland.co.uk
Racehorse Owners Association:
Michael Harris
Chief Executive
T: +44 (0)20 7408 0903
mharris@roa.co.uk
Sportingbet Plc:
Marc Thomas
M: +44 (0)7827 989271
marc.thomas@sportingbet.com
NOTES
About sportingbet.com
Company History
* Founded in 1998
* Holding licences in Alderney, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, South Africa and
the UK
* Market capitalisation of over GBP300m
* Recently announced intention to list on the Official List of the London Stock
Exchange
Trading Information
* Over half a million customers worldwide
* Takes bets in 23 languages
* Award winning customer service team answering queries in 42 languages
* Specialising in in:play betting - accounts for 56% of all bets placed in Europe
Social Responsibility and Community-based Sponsorship
* Main supporter of HEROS - a charity dedicated to the welfare of former
racehorses
* Sponsor Heather Watson - UK number 1 and World number 3 girls tennis player
(from Channel Islands)
* Sponsor Guernsey marathon
Sponsorship Activity
* Support British and Australian horseracing through race sponsorship
* Shirt sponsor of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, in the Premier League
* Betting partner of Portsmouth FC, in the Premier League
* Shirt sponsor of Steaua Bucharest, major Romanian football team
* Shirt sponsor of Slavia Sofia FC, one of Bulgaria's largest football teams
* Major sponsor of the Brisbane Broncos, leading Australian Rugby League team
* Major sponsor of Carlton Football Club, major Australian Rules team
Visit www.sportingbet.com and www.sportingbetplc.com for more information.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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