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Best Odds
Among all the stiff competition in online sportsbooks, why do you think readers chose Ladbrokes? What makes you unique?
Ladbrokes always strives to offer the best value to our customers and there is no purer way of doing this than providing the best odds. As the online betting market has grown over recent years, we have become more focused to ensure that we continue to offer the most competitive odds, and we aim to be one of the first to market.
We have also concentrated on the depth, or range, of markets on offer. Betting in Running has seen the most incredible growth over the last two to three years and so has the number of markets as a result. We now employ traders from all over the world to provide expertise in new and diverse sports, and the team is growing every day.
So, a focus on our customer needs and delivery of our strong trading principles in an ever expanding industry means that the world’s largest bookmaker will continue to offer the best odds in the market.
Best Sportsbook Customer Service
What have been the biggest breakthroughs at Ladbrokes Sportsbook over the past year?
We successfully launched our new sportsbook website in the spring after extensive development and testing. During the testing process, we contacted a number of groups of customers to take part in forums and questionnaires. Not only did this confirm that the developments we had made were what our customers wanted, it also helped us to make a few tweaks to the final design. It is now a double-award-winning site.
We have also focussed on increasing our live streaming content through ‘Ladbrokes TV’. Customers can now watch live horse racing from the UK, Ireland and the USA, and from September 2008, live football, tennis, darts and volleyball. The quality of the pictures is excellent—just like digital TV. I watched Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor claim his 14th world title in the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship all through my PC. It was as good as watching it on TV, if not better.
What has been the biggest hurdle to overcome?
From both a personal and business perspective, I think England not qualifying for the Euros was the biggest blow. It’s obviously great to be able to support your own national team in the big tournaments, so it was gutting when we were beaten by Croatia. It also looked like it would have a serious effect on our football business as the country loves to have a patriotic flutter. But it turned out that whilst the numbers would certainly have been better had England qualified, punters seemed to really enjoy all the live football during the summer.
As much as you can disclose, what milestones are you striving for in 2009?
Clearly I can’t give too much away, but international expansion is high on the agenda for 2009. We also have lots of new and exciting developments planned for the website.
What sets Ladbrokes Sportsbook apart from its competition?
It’s pretty tough as the competition is strong. We are really proud of the number of different sports and markets we offer at Ladbrokes. We’ve also driven home how competitive our odds are over the past year. In fact, we are one of the clear market leaders when it comes to value to the customer. Lastly, the Ladbrokes sportsbook website is a one-stop shop for top quality content including the streaming mentioned above, statistics, news and form. It’s a 24/7 operation but when live sport is available around the clock from all over the world, it has to be.
Ian Welch, Head of Sportsbook Marketing, Ladbrokes
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