Paddy Power, the offbeat bookies with the quirky marketing, continues to lure in punters with nifty mobile phone apps and neat publicity stunts.
Today it reported surging half-year profits up 21% to €68.7 million (£54.5 million), thanks partly to a strong Euro 2012.
Chief executive Patrick Kennedy says he regards football tournaments as marketing opportunities as much as revenue earners but says this summer’s event was good both ways.
In particular Paddy hit the news when Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner dropped his shorts after scoring a goal against Portugal to reveal a pair of Paddy Power lucky pants.
UEFA promptly banned him for one 2014 World Cup qualifying match and fined him €100,000, which Paddy paid on his behalf.
That’s more than footballers get fined for racism, notes Kennedy. “UEFA went predictably ballistic,” he said. “It was bananas.” But also very good promotional activity for the brand. Paddy took €78 million of bets during the three-week tournament.
Kennedy reckons Paddy is the only bookie that has apps that work on all mobile phones, including Nokia’s and BlackBerry’s. Paddy has 1.2 million online customers, a rise of 41%.
That online growth and a strong performance in Australia helped push overall revenue to €311.2 million, up from €242 million a year ago.
The positive results came despite refunds of €5.6 million to customers on its money-back offers, which refunded customers if their bets on certain outcomes were unsuccessful.
