Introduction
are probably the biggest online gaming company in the world. The company was originally established in 1886, with the actual name Ladbrokes being used in 1902. In 1961, a chain of betting shops were established and they now have over 2,200 retail betting shops in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Belgium. In the 1990s, a telephone betting operation was established, while in 2000 the company launched their website, something which is now available in 20 languages.
According to its own website, in 2008 it took £16 billion in stakes and 740 million bets with Group revenues of over £1.1 billion. Benefiting from its brand strength, the Company offers an all-embracing range of betting and gaming services via its retail, online and telephone operations, supported by 16,000 skilled employees and state of the art technology.
Brand
The Ladbrokes brand is probably the strongest in the industry, which can be attributed to two things. Having a high street presence in four countries gives them plenty of coverage, especially in the UK where their longevity means that customers trust the brand as one of honour and integrity. Secondly, the company have stretched their legs globally and are one of the major players in central Europe, Scandinavia and south-east Asia.
Ladbrokes are also known as the Magic Sign, especially on UK and Irish racecourses, with folklore suggesting that their people have always been adept at pricing up events correctly.
Website
At the time of writing (December 2009), it has been suggested that Ladbrokes are shortly going to revamp their website, although it still does the job in terms of quickly loading pages and enabling customers to place their bets quickly and efficiently. The various sports are listed alphabetically in a left-hand margin, with football and horse racing also included as 'favourites'.
The main body of the homepage includes In-Play betting at the top (if there's any of it going on) and then presents a list of upcoming betting highlights with accompanying thumbnails. Underneath are a series of 'quick links' which will take you directly to some selected sporting markets. Strangely, there's little mention of football, with Ladbrokes instead keen to including boxing matches some way in the future and the next Formula 1 winner.
Navigation-wise, it takes the customer a few clicks to find the market that they're interested in. Clicking on 'Soccer' brings up a long list of matches by date but no real semblance of order. However, you can use one of the tabs to view a match coupon by country and league and the markets are very neatly presented.
Free Bets
New customers can qualify for a free bet up to £50 when they join Ladbrokes . Simply register, place your first bet of £50 and your free bet will be credited when the original bet is settled.
Odds
With regard to football, Ladbrokes ' odds are solid rather than spectacular. However, this is partially due to the fact that they are prepared to lay bigger bets than some of their competitors, so they obviously accrue bigger liabilities. It should also be appreciated that the Magic Sign often go best price about a very strong favourite, such as Manchester City at home to Hull or Manchester United away to Portsmouth. With so many shops, their football and racing prices are often affected by the perceived popularity of a team or a horse up and down the United Kingdom.
Ladbrokes would probably admit that they are strongest when it comes to pricing up horse racing. They didn't get that nickname for nothing and continue a tradition of offering punters good value and early prices. They have recently gone Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Irish racing where you'll get paid out at SP if it turns out to be bigger than the price that you took on a horse.
Markets
28 different sports are available at the time of writing, with greyhounds and horse racing having more than one section. The latter is split into regular, future, US and virtual, thus confirming that this is the number one sport for Ladbrokes . There is an extensive range of antepost races priced up, along with some special bets focusing on flat and National Hunt.
For Premier League football matches, you might expect around fifteen markets available, including all the old favourites like match winner, correct score, first goalscorer and HT / FT. In addition, Ladbrokes offer Asian Handicap betting which illustrates where a decent chunk of their customer base are based. The Handicap and Goal Line are offered for a half-time and full-time outcome and actually offers a tighter margin than the more westernised markets.
For other sports such as tennis, cricket and rugby, you can expect a solid range of betting propositions. The In-Play betting generally features up to ten live markets on any particular event.
Promotions
As already mentioned, the Best Odds Guaranteed promotion is making waves at Ladbrokes and will prove popular with racing punters. In addition, the company have something on the website called Ladbrokes TV, where you can watch a variety of sporting events being streamed live. There are mainly a mixture of tennis and football matches being shown free of charge to customers, although the real jewel in the crown is the streaming of the PDC World Darts Championship. Due to the fact that Laddies sponsor this event, they have the exclusive bookmaker rights.
If you fancy trying your hand at the dynamic casino, there is £25 free with no deposit required, while you can bet £5 or more on horse racing and get a 10 dollar poker chip for free.
Customer Service
Ladbrokes are renowned for their excellent customer service, which is available on a 24/7 basis. Their operators are some of the best in the business when it comes to handling queries, with different departments taking care of payment, bet settling and technical queries. Not that we've encountered too many problems, with the site making a huge range of payment methods available and accepting 18 different currencies online.
By clicking on the 'Help' section, you can view a list of helpful questions and answers, along with various betting rules for each sport and market. The CS staff are available on email and telephone, with someone generally contacting you back within an hour on the former.
Register with Ladbrokes for...
- You are betting with the biggest betting company in the world
- We love their Best Odds Guaranteed offer on all UK and Irish horse racing
- A neat website which loads markets quickly and helps you to place fast bets
- A wide range of sports and the equal coverage afforded to all of them
- The free bet offer has no catches and it's easy to qualify for
- One of the few bookies to offer live streaming and it's exclusive for the PDC darts
- Live In-Play betting is available and there are some unique markets available
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