WTL MOVING INTO ONLINE SPORTSBETTING
Posted 1/11/11 : Revenues may have dropped by 8 percent last year, but the owner of the FCBetz.com brand has big plans
The UK betting group The Weather Lottery, which signed a series of online gambling deals with British football clubs under its FCBetz brand last year reports that it has ambitious plans to up the ante by adding new betting products to its offering, including a sportsbook.
Despite taking an 8 percent knock to its revenues in its last financial year ended July 2010, the group remains focused on expansion, especially in the online gambling sector.
The AIM-listed company has offices in Doncaster and on the Isle of Man and originally specialised in lottery management, expanding into the online gambling, casino and poker sectors last year.
Among the football clubs it has signed up for its services are Glasgow Rangers, Middlesboro, Coventry City, Derby County, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday.
Last (December) month the company announced a deal with in-stadium betting provider BD Sport Limited to increase the exposure of its soccer-themed FC Lotto lottery and FCBetz.com online brands.
BD Sport will provide a full-service in-stadium betting program fronted by the FCBetz.com brand that will ‘complement the already well established lottery business and new online sportsbook platform’, the company revealed, with BD Sport ‘supporting existing and future’ football club partnerships signed by The Weather Lottery.
BD Sport has similar contracts in place with a number of UK football clubs including English Premier League sides Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur together with major gaming brands such as Betfair, 188Bet, Victor Chandler and SportingBet.
Tony Warwick, managing director for BD Sport, said at the time: “The Weather Lottery offers a lottery product tailored to the football market in addition to the gaming package, which we think makes it uniquely attractive to football clubs.”
WTL will also be able to deploy BD Sport's ‘sponsorship and marketing expertise’ in order to ‘position, negotiate and deliver key partnerships for FCBetz.com and FC Lotto’.
“This is a significant enhancement to our marketing strategy and we are delighted to be aligned with BD Sport as we continue our program of growth and penetration into this marketplace,” said Tim Razzall, chairman for The Weather Lottery.
In his chairman’s statement for the year, Lord Razzall revealed that the Board had decided to add to the existing business a new range of gaming products for both existing and new customers.
These operations commenced with the creation of a sportsbook operation to enable registered players to place bets on sporting events, particularly football matches, whether on-line or in-stadium at the games of partnership clubs.
He described progress as ‘very encouraging’ with now eight clubs signed up to take gaming and lottery products offered by The Weather Lottery whether through the FC Lotto brand or the new gaming brand, again created for the football sector, "FC Betz".
Further products are being added, including Casino, Slots and On-line Poker, he disclosed.
WTL’s chief executive, Keith Milhench left the company last year and the group is still seeking a replacement with the necessary experience and qualifications to take the company forward.
