History
Paddy Power was founded in 1988 by the merger of three existing Irish bookmakers. At the end of 2005 Paddy Power operated 195 outlets (150 in Ireland and 45 in the UK). The total number of employees was 1,374. On 27 May 2008, Paddy Power acquired Northern Ireland independent bookmaker McGranaghan Racing bringing Paddy Power's shop count to 191 in Ireland.
The bookmaker is known for offering odds on controversial markets in order to garner publicity, e.g., in November 2008, 16–1 was laid that U.S. President Barack Obama 'would not finish' his first term (this was widely interpreted as his odds of assassination).
Paddy Power are sponsors of Manchester City, Swansea City and St Patrick's Athletic.
After English Premier League new boys Stoke City lost their opening game of the 2008–09 season 3–1 to Bolton Wanderers, Paddy Power controversially paid out on bets on them being relegated. When the club finished in mid-table at the end of the season the company took out a full page advert in The Sentinel apologising to the club and its supporters.
In December 2007, Paddy Power began offering online bingo games. The original "Paddy Power Bingo" used Parlay's bingo software. In 2009, Paddy Power moved their bingo operations from Parlay to Playtech's Virtue Fusion software platform.
In July 2010, the company took the unusual step of refunding bets placed on Felipe Massa to win the 2010 Germany Grand Prix, following the notorious "team orders" incident, which led to Fernando Alonso being allowed to win the race, despite Massa's clear lead.
In October 2011, the company paid out early on New Zealand winning the world cup, four days before the final against France on 23 October 2011. The company boss said: 'New Zealand have left all of their opposition so far feeling black and blue and it's inevitable us bookies will be taking a hammering from them on Sunday too - so punters might as well collect now.' The All Blacks were Paddy Power's 4/6 tournament favourites and were 1/9 odds on to win with France 13/2.
As of November 2011 Paddy Power was the largest bookmaker in Europe by total share value; group income was €444m in 2010.
On 14 May 2010, Paddy Power acquired a majority stake in Australian bookmaker Sportsbet.com.au. Paddy Power was placed 6th in the 2011 Management Today "Britain's most admired companies" list.
Paddypowerpoker.com was launched in February 2005. The site allows players to play a number of variations of the game and sponsors the Irish Poker Open and the Irish Winter Festival of Poker. In March 2007 Paddy Power Poker became part of the Ipoker network.
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