UK bookmaker Ladbrokes has bolstered its lagging online operation by extending its long-term relationship with Dublin-based gambling software developer Cryptologic, which was recently acquired by Amaya Gaming Group. The multi-year deal will see Lads launch at least 10 of Cryptologic’s casino games in addition to the two games covered under the previous deal. Four of the new games are already live on Ladbrokesgames.com and the other six will come online over the next few months. News of the deal was accompanied by the requisite comments that typically accompany these types of announcements, you know, the ones that sound like an eHarmony.com advert. “I know now that, until I met Ladbrokes, I didn’t know what love was,” etc.
Ladbrokes former head of trading Jon Thompson has until the end of this week to appeal his dismissal. Thompson was abruptly let go at the start of this month under as yet undefined circumstances, which Lads would only describe as procedural, not criminal. Simultaneously, Lads suspended its horse racing product manager Mark Fogarty. eGamingReview claimed Thompson, who had been with Lads just over a year, was in the process of appealing his sacking, but there’s been no official word from either party.
An undeniably criminal act has resulted in assault charges filed against a punter who slugged a female clerk at a Lads betting shop in Gloucester. John Damien Eamer was caught on the shop’s CCTV system leaning over the counter and punching the unidentified woman twice in the face (pictured below). Eamer had reportedly asked the clerk to check a betting slip, and upon being told it wasn’t a winner, he lost the plot (despite the fact that a win would have earned him only £1.20). Following the assault, Eamer casually strolled out of the shop like nothing was amiss, but the cameras caught a close-up of his face, leading to his arrest the next day. A Lads spokesman said the shop’s lack of a security screen to protect employees from such attacks is “usually a sign that the shop is generally quite safe and has few security incidents.” Emphasis on the ‘usually’. Eamer will have his day in court on July 6, and if there really is such a thing as justice, he’ll find himself sharing a cell with a much larger and equally short-tempered ‘daddy’.
