It’s common knowledge that the Irish are synonymous with sports betting. They’ve been a part of the betting industry both at home and the UK for decades now and they have been able to produce some of the biggest brands as a result.
What’s been great to see is that they’ve not lost the Irish charm that they are so well known for. We’re going to talk more about Irish-based bookies later in this article, but companies like Paddy Power have always had a certain tongue in cheek attitude about hem and generally don’t take themselves too seriously, which is very much the Irish way.
The Irish are probably best know for the affiliation within the horse racing sector. It’s this sport, probably more than any other, that has propelled them to the international stage and the fact they are able to hose some huge meetings throughout the year, certainly doesn’t do them any harm.
The international success that they have been able to draw upon has definitely helped them become more than just an “Irish bookmaker”. Whilst obviously we are talking about their Irish roots in this article and where they came from, when you mention any of the brands now, they are very much compared with any international based bookie that operates within the UK, which is a credit to them.
Offers From Irish Bookies
Boylesports
Main Irish Bookmakers
There’s been a good range of Irish bookmakers over the years. Whilst we are going to list a couple of biggest below, it’s worth noting that Ireland still has quite the thriving independent bookmaker scene. You aren’t going to see them with huge advertising campaigns, and they may not even have an online presence at all, but there are brands that have been about for many years that still operate the high streets and the racecourses across Ireland.
Paddy Power
Paddy Power are the biggest bookmaker that Ireland have been able to produce. They’re known worldwide and they are one of those brands that are spoken about as one of the biggest and best in the industry right now. We spoke about the success of the independent bookmaker across Ireland just before and Paddy Power were actually a huge benefactor of that. You see, the company was set up in 1988 and it was a merger of three Irish bookmakers at the time. These were Stewart Kenny, David Power and John Corcoran.
The name came from David Power’s surname, which was decided to be the most brandable from the three and obviously Paddy represents a very Irish background, coupled with the green and white branding that is now highly synonymous with the brand.
Paddy Power started life in an aggressive manner, something that they would see carry them through even to the present day. They were able to expand in several towns and cities across Ireland, but instead of taking the cheaper shops off the high street, they invested in the more expensive locations, right in the heart of the towns and city centres.
By 2001, the company had a 31% share of all off course betting in Ireland, a rise from just 8% when they first opened their doors in 1998, highlighting a monumental rise. By 2005, the company had 195 betting shops in total, with 150 of those in Ireland and 45 across the United Kingdom, signalling the first phase of their expansion from Ireland as a success.
Five years later they had been able to keep expansion running and reported 356 stores in total. Their floating on the stock exchange made them the largest bookmaker in Europe by total share value, largely down to the success they were seeing online as well as on the high street.
The company were to undergo one of the biggest mergers in bookmaking history in 2015 as it was announced that they would be merging with betting exchange, Betfair. The merger went through in 2016 and in 2018 it announced record revenue figures for the company of £1.8bn.
In March 2019, Paddy Power Betfair, as the company was formerly known, stated they were going to rebrand and now be known as Flutter Entertainment. It’s worth noting that both Paddy Power and Betfair still run as individual brands, but under the same company.
Boylesports
Boylesports probably don’t have the international recognition or appeal that Paddy Power have, but they are in fact, the largest independent bookmaker in Ireland. The company was founded in 1982 by John Boyle. It was Boyle who opened the first betting shop in Markethilll, Northern Ireland and by 1989 had already expanded this to 5 betting shops.
They were the only independent bookie that was really able to keep pace with Paddy Power. By 2006 they had opened 100 betting shops and up to 2018 had 250 betting shops across Ireland.
What’s unique about Boylesports is that they are still pushing high street betting even to this day. Where a lot of companies are closing their doors, Boyle is still keen to invest and, as a result, have been able to keep ahead of the game, if only in terms of sheer volume of stores.
Whilst sports betting has always been at the heart of BoyleSports, they have also other products that include casino, live casino, poker, bingo, games and lotteries. They are as big as they come, and their online presence is one that has seen massive growth over the last decade or so.
Ladbrokes
Okay, so we will admit, Ladbrokes aren’t an Irish brand. They’ve been about since 1886 though an they are one of the oldest gambling companies in the world. The reason they make our list is that they actually have a large following in Ireland and they still have a good number of betting shops dotted around the country. In fact, it’s the most of any brand that wasn’t originally from Ireland, which we feel is relevant to include.
By 1973 the company had managed to open a staggering 1,135 betting shops across the UK and Ireland. In fact, the companies dominance was at one point flagged by the UK government as having too big a foothold in the industry and were ordered to sell a chunk of their betting shops in order to balance the books a bit with other bookmakers.
The merger with Coral went through in 2016 and left the now Ladbrokes Coral Group with almost 4,00 betting shops in a deal worth £2.3bn. Just a year later a deal was agreed with GVC that would see them buy Ladbrokes Coral for £4bn.
Irish v UK Bookmakers
If you were to walk into a betting shop and not know which country you were in, you’d likely be hard pushed to tell the difference straight away from a UK and an Irish based bookmaker. The core features that make up these dwellings are very similar and brands that operate out of both Ireland and the UK, will use very similar models in each.
Sports Coverage
The main difference will come in terms of the sports that it covers. Well, not such much covers, more actively advertise. In Ireland, you have spots like hurling and Gaelic football and other Gaelic based sports. These sports are predominantly played in Ireland and not so much anywhere else, so you’re going to see a much bigger coverage for this in Ireland than you might in the UK.
Horse Racing
The level of coverage for horse racing in Ireland is also going to be bigger in Irish bookmakers as well. However, the sport is so well covered all over the UK, you won’t see as big a difference here.
Licensing
Licensing in Ireland is slightly different than the UK, as well. A bookmaker will need to apply for a license with the Department of Justice and Equality, which are essentially doing the same role as the UK Gambling Commission in making sure that players are safe and practices are being carried out to the highest standard to ensure this.
Whilst wording on the documents for the UK Gambling Commission and the Department of Justice and Equality might be slightly different, their goals are very much the same. However, one key difference is that, of yet anyway, they haven’t carried over the new rules regarding KYC (Know Your Customer) that have been brought in to better help people who shouldn’t be gambling or vulnerable people.
It’s also worth noting that any Irish based bookmakers that want to work in the UK will need to be fully licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. This works both ways for UK based bookmakers in Ireland. For example, Ladbrokes will need both the UK Gambling Commission license and a Department of Justice and Equality license to operate both in the UK and in Ireland.
Distribution of Betting Shops in Ireland
The number of betting shops in Ireland has followed the same trend as pretty much everywhere else in the world in that they’ve seen significant decline. In fact, in 1999, it was reported that bookmakers share of the betting market has reduced from 91% to just 40% in 2018. The main reason behind this is the shift to online betting, which is the fastest growing commodity within the industry in Ireland right now.
In 2008, there were 1385 betting shops in Ireland. Some ten years later in 2018, this number had dropped by over 500, to just 851. It’s stated that a betting duty of 1% of turnover, regardless of win or loss, is one of the main reasons why many shops have closed their doors. It’s reported that over 10,000 full or part-time jobs have been lost as a result.
The UK have around 8,400 betting shops in total, but they follow a similar decline in terms of closures. Although we must point out that the last three years, closures have been much fewer than normal, mainly down to the success of FOBT machines.
In terms of density, Ireland has 851 betting shops with a population of 4.78 million people. This equals 1 betting shop for every 5,617 residents. In the UK, there are 8,400 betting shops with a population of 66 million. This gives us 7,857 betting shops per person. This would state that there are more betting shops per person in the UK than Ireland.