Paddy Power Bookmaker, Casino, Bingo

Paddy Power Bookmaker Review

It has been established that Paddy Power Bookmaker is the biggest in its trade in Ireland. It is also an undisputed fact that they are one of the biggest in the UK market.

But what is different about this betting firm is its sense of humour. Honest, they are not just a bunch of stuffed shirt accountants masquerading as bookmakers. No, they are a bunch of clowns masquerading as bookies. I mean check out their past:

1988: Paddy Power Bookmaker set out to be a different type of bookie. They wanted to introduce a light-hearted touch to everything they did. They also made a commitment to give the best customer care and help available, but that's the boring bit. They saw betting as part of the entertainment industry and they have not lost that ethos yet.

1993: If there is a home for every Irish bookie outside the mother country then it has to be a little bit of parkland they call Cheltenham racecourse. This year St Patrick's Day was celebrated during the world's biggest jumps meeting. In a blind fit of foolish over-exuberance, Paddy Power Bookmaker offered to double the odds on any victorious horse trained in Ireland. There was a so-called certainty in the last, the Irish-trained Heist. Paddy Power was besieged with bets because punters were not getting the correct odds of 9/4 but the doubled odds of 9/2. Heist looked all over the winner until the Irish-trained 16/1 shot Rhythm Section came from the clouds to nail him in the shadow of the post. Ireland's cheekiest bookmaking outfit were happy to cough up 32/1 about the winner. After all he had prevented them from falling victim to a much bigger Heist.

1999: We all know there no such thing as a certainty. Nothing has won until it is past the post and weighed in. Tell that to Paddy Power Bookmaker. In this year they must have been on the Guinness a bit too early at Cheltenham because they paid out on odds-on Istabraq the day BEFORE he won the Champion Hurdle. They got it right that time and their favourite backers could watch the race without sweating over the result. They were not going to be so lucky in 2009.

2000: How did Paddy Power celebrate the birth of their online betting site in 2000% What famous hero did they get to cut the ribbon and burst out of the cake% The superstar they chose was poor old scapegoat Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who lost his shirt and sank a venerable bank that everyone has forgotten the name of. Maybe the bookmaker was hoping all their online punters would lose as big as Naughty Nick. Or maybe they were just having a laugh. Last laugh was on them. Their shiny new website crashed on the day.

2002: Paddy Power Bookmaker does like to take a poke at authority. I mean if this firm was a schoolboy it would be sitting at the back of class not listening to the teacher and throwing its rubber at the girls. And so we get to a record the Paddies should be proud of, that of the most unpopular advert every created. It depicted two old ladies crossing that famous Abbey Road zebra crossing as a big car bears down on them. Each little old lady had betting odds attached to her. The advert was banned but those shrewd little kids at PP got a bang for their marketing buck there.

2003: This is a famous gaff. And we all love it when a bookie gets it so wrong. In this year the Paddy Power cheek bit back. They just can't resist paying out early on a result. Maybe they are just kind people who should be in a nunnery or maybe they are ruthlessly seeking media publicity for an early payout. You decide. Anyway, this major mistake concerned the Premier League Title. Those nice men at Paddy Power coughed up months early on Arsenal only for Manchester United to just pip them at the end.

2006: One punter got the better of Paddy Power Bookmaker in a big way this year. They gave odds of 125/1 that Liverpool's Alonso would score a goal from his own half of the pitch. After paying out their punter £25,000 it transpired the man who had requested the strange bet had dreamt the goal. I am sure they closed his account after that.

2006: The Irish betting company felt they weren’t making a big enough splash so the latest wacky idea was to sponsor a strip poker tournament. It was hosted in central London and is now in the Guinness book of World Records as the biggest strip poker tournament ever. There's a claim to fame nobody will be bothering to beat in a hurry.

2008: They still can't get enough of paying out early on 'certainties', even after the nailed-on Arsenal team had cost them dear. This year Paddy Power Bookmaker paid on Barack Obama as a leadership nominee and Boris Johnson as Mayor of London months early. A cynic might ask exactly how much money they took on such esoteric events. It's hardly the Grand National. They did not get it all right though. They showed their political naivety when paying out on the Lisbon Treaty Yes vote, when the answer was No. There's another fiver they lost.

2009: Secretly Paddy Power Bookmaker must want to rule the world and a good place to start is surely Down Under. The firm bought all 100% of Aussie bookmaker Sportsbet. In all they have spent one hundred million dollars on the deal. They bought over half of that firm in 2009 but after a year of growth and profits in 2010 at the Northern territory based outfit, they took up the option to buy the other 49%. They also bought a huge Aussie bookie called IASbet, so in the blink of an eye they were the biggest non-state betting firm in Australia.

In August 2009, the firm made its biggest bloomer. Tiger Woods (yes he plays golf too) went into the final round of the USPGA with a seemingly unassailable lead. He was a massive odds-on shot being 4 shots ahead of the field. He simply could not get beat. So, naturally they paid him out as a winner. But naughty Tiger had not read the script and blew the tournament, costing those premature boys at PP a cool seven figures.

2011: PP once again demonstrated its desire to broaden its business spectrum. It bought a small, but growing, mobile and online games company called Cayetano. In one move the progressive bookmaker could provide its platforms with unique games to serve its player base. Cayetano is Isle of Man based with a strong team of software developers in Bulgaria.

Also in 2011 they paid out early on the winners of the Rugby World Cup. Imperious New Zealand were up against a French team deemed lucky to be there, having lost to Tonga and New Zealand itself in the group stages. It looked a safe thing to garner some publicity by paying out on a Kiwi tournament victory before the day of the match, after all NZ were 1/10 to win the match. In the end the All Blacks did win but by a single nervous point, and the French missed a penalty. All at Paddy Power Bookmaker had a very uncomfortable 80 minutes.