Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[MANTIS01]

I like the one where Jimmy Bullard wagged his finger at the Hull players 'for bants' with Phil Brown. Totally unprofessional and silly.

[AlunB]

Ladbrokes shares should be bought

Not for the fundamentals, but because they are trading so far below book that they should be taken over by a venture capitalist, which would run it for cash flow and then look to float it back later

ideal business for their funding models

Certainly ripe for plucking.

Not sure this is right, most of their assets are intangibles and goodwill.  Venture capitalists aren't interested in that?  Strip that out and you have a basket case.  I wouldn't be attaching much value to the goodwill in a company that is clearly decking every year.  Nice pay package at the top if you can get it.

I am stuck between this view and tighty's.  Just having close to 10000 fobts working for you every day is just a huge cash cow in itself.  You are looking at £400m a year gross from them assuming £800 a week per fobt.  To only have the business valued at £950m just seems incredibly low.  I think it shows how little the rest of the business is actually worth though.

Might have a look tonight.  It may well be throwing off cash.  But without goodwill it was something like assets £400m, debts £700m.  Can't spend any more time on it now.

Pretty close. £209.4m from machines in H1. Take off £41.8m in GPT and you get £167.6m from the first six months of the year from FOBTs.

[TightEnd]

this might appeal to you Alun

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2908833/Spot-Ball-jackpot-hasn-t-won-2004-number-play-game-falls-14-000.html

Click to see full-size image.

[AlunB]

this might appeal to you Alun

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2908833/Spot-Ball-jackpot-hasn-t-won-2004-number-play-game-falls-14-000.html

Click to see full-size image.

Ha! Funnily enough someone mentioned that to me yesterday. It does seem improbable. I remember my granddad used to do that every week and I loved trying to guess it with him. He never won. Looking back I think that was my first introduction to gambling.

Also love the use of the word airbrush in there. You think that's how they still do it? I suspect not.

[redsimon]

Used to get stickers with the x's on when I did STB, only ever won £10 in all the time I did it

[BorntoBubble]

Ive noticed the phrase "BSKYB" being branded about a bit later but I was under the impression that this has now been changed to "SKY" has it not with all the new acquisitions of Sky Italia etc to create one company.

Are BSKYB now a company that are part of SKY or am I just getting confused for no reason.

My first memory of the word BSKYB was in the ManUtd attempted buy out. I remember hating them then they grew into a company I loved and I loved to work for. Weird world.

[RED-DOG]

this might appeal to you Alun

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2908833/Spot-Ball-jackpot-hasn-t-won-2004-number-play-game-falls-14-000.html

Click to see full-size image.

Ha! Funnily enough someone mentioned that to me yesterday. It does seem improbable. I remember my granddad used to do that every week and I loved trying to guess it with him. He never won. Looking back I think that was my first introduction to gambling.

Also love the use of the word airbrush in there. You think that's how they still do it? I suspect not.

It never was airbrushed out. A committee decides where the ball should be.

[tikay]

Des,

While you are here......

Are you still with the mountainous crew in Hammersmith?

Have to say, as Online Gaming Company offices go, that's a beaut.




Really interesting times in Online Gaming right now, what with consolidation & regulation sweeping the industry, doubt it has ever changed so much, so quickly. It was inevitable, of course, & long overdue. It is a VERY big market. Poker is a very small part indeed, relatively miniscule, but it's still an integral part of the whole. Was fascinated to see that when Amaya/Stars trialled Casino Games in Spain, they grabbed 15% of the Merket in next to no time. Think of that globally......

Did you ever foresee the takeover Next Door? Must be said, in a Corporation like BSKYB, "Gaming", with it's swings & swongs, always seermed a very odd fit to me. Worked well, mind, but deffo an oddity.

Even SB&G often strikes me as an odd beast. As you know, & as in most big Companies, they control exs very tightly indeed. If I exceed the "Official" allowed amount for, say, Breakfast, or a hotel room, or taxi fare, they won't pay it, end of. Good, tight, accounting controls.

Even for something like UKPC, it has to be vetted by layers of Management, & then get Board sign off. Which is fine, & perfectly right.

But it sits inside a Company that exposes itself, daily, to (literally) millions of pounds of liability in it's Sportsbook, which can, & does, easily win or lose many millions every single day. 

So an expenses chit for brekkie at £9 might get rejected, while on the same day, they make or lose x milly on the Sportsbook or Vegas. An odd juxtaposition.

Very interesting times there right now. As you know, they use Central Reporting from the BSKYB Data Warehouse, so all that is having to be internally re-constructed, on what amounts to a clean sheet of paper.

Meanwhile, in poker, I have one "idea" left in me, which could be bigger than APAT, it really could. I keep dithering as to whether to try & get it off the ground. Don't think SB&G would be interested, but I have a Partner in mind. If I were 10 years younger, I'd start it in a heartbeat. It is such an obvious & simple thing, too, with a huge untapped Market. I'd need an Online Partner, but I'm sure there'd be no shortage of offers. Key to it is that it would embrace non-poker Corporations, who would want to be associated with it. Almost no poker format or site has ever reached outside poker for commercial partners. That will change. Could be quite a saga. I can't really do it whilst I am still Next Door though.

We shall see. 
 

Yep, still in Hammersmith tikay.  It's a great old building and the former site of St Paul's prep school, founded in 1890 no less. 

I'm really focused on developing a new product for Betclic Everest at the moment, something that hasn't hit the UK yet, but that has the potential to be big.  Differentiation is key these days so it is great to be leading on something like this.  And 2014 was a hectic year.  We jumped through the UK regulation hoops in Q3 and it's such a big and unwieldy process that throws everyone's focus from the core stuff.  Plus we've finished a big data warehouse project (I don't envy SB&G having to start again) and put a new CRM tool in place and I relaunched Monte-Carlo Casino online (of Bond fame).   

I didn't forsee the Sky deal happening but seems like a winner for all involved.  Richard's done such a good job there.   I had occasion to speak to him a couple of times last month and he was so understated about the sale and success.  He deserves what I'm sure is a hefty bonus this year.

As for your idea, don't let it end up being a regret.  Do it.  If I can help in any way just let me know.

Looking forward to catching up in late March / April.

Unbelievably so.

I don't really know how he would have benefitted financially, but I think we can readily assume he's made a good few bob, & deservedly, too, he has such great vision. 

The deal will mean changes, they always do, some good, some maybe not so much, but the Group will continue to thrive, imo, & beat the market.

I often wonder what may have happened if Ladbrokes had poached him.

[tikay]

this might appeal to you Alun

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2908833/Spot-Ball-jackpot-hasn-t-won-2004-number-play-game-falls-14-000.html

Click to see full-size image.

Ha! Funnily enough someone mentioned that to me yesterday. It does seem improbable. I remember my granddad used to do that every week and I loved trying to guess it with him. He never won. Looking back I think that was my first introduction to gambling.

Also love the use of the word airbrush in there. You think that's how they still do it? I suspect not.

Does this stuff fall under the Gaming Regulations, are they Regulated etc? They must be, surely?

The "Judges" can pretty much decide where to put the "virtual" ball as I understand it. Seems a prime candidate for jiggery-pokery.

You'd also think that the chap who had been doing it for 11 years would have learned his lesson by now.

Just one more week, in case I would have won it this week.....

[tikay]

Ive noticed the phrase "BSKYB" being branded about a bit later but I was under the impression that this has now been changed to "SKY" has it not with all the new acquisitions of Sky Italia etc to create one company.

Are BSKYB now a company that are part of SKY or am I just getting confused for no reason.

My first memory of the word BSKYB was in the ManUtd attempted buy out. I remember hating them then they grew into a company I loved and I loved to work for. Weird world.

You are correct, I just say (on here) BSKYB to avoid confusion with Sky Poker. "Sky" would get confusing for my very occasional poker readers. 

Internally, I refer to them as "Big Sky" (the TV Company), but yes, you are correct, they are "SKY".

[tikay]

They did it!

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

These are the tents, slung from ropes, in which they slept at night.


"Sleep well?"


"Yeah, like a log".

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[Rod Paradise]

Quiz question - which is the only road in London where you drive on the right (both ways, not  a one way street).

I know that some Army bases around the country have everyone driving on the right, to get troops ready for going abroad. THat's not the answer though.

[tikay]

Quiz question - which is the only road in London where you drive on the right (both ways, not  a one way street).

I know that some Army bases around the country have everyone driving on the right, to get troops ready for going abroad. THat's not the answer though.

Ooh, good question.

Presumably, NOT a "public highway" as such?

Is it a road within a Foreign Embassy?

I'll try my best not to google the answer.

[Rod Paradise]

It's open to the public, and no, not an embassy.

You'll love the reason....

[tikay]

A curious little film was on last night, a sort of dramatised documentary, of the Phil Spector Murder Trial. (The one in which he got he got convicted), starring Al Pacino & Helen Mirren.

If the portrayal was accurate, Mr Spector was a bit of a nutjob, but almost certainly innocent in this particular case.

Anyway, no matter, he's doing 19 years in a California Correctional Facility at the mo. It seems to have aged him a tad.

When he turned up for his Trial wearing that outlandish wig, it must have aged his attorney too.

The Trial was just 5 years ago.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.