Paddy Power renew Man City deal, hire ex-pol, lobby Irish gov’t, pay punter

paddy-power-football-manchester-cityIrish bookies Paddy Power have renewed their betting partnership with English Premier League football club Manchester City. The pair first teamed up in the 2011-12 EPL season and the extension will see the Paddsters serve as Man City’s official betting partner in the UK, Ireland and Italy through the end of the 2014-15 season. Paddy inked a similar deal with EPL side Arsenal in August to go with its other deals with Everton and Liverpool. Paddy Power’s eponymous spokesman said the pairing had been “brilliant,” while Man City’s chief commercial and operating officer Tom Glick said the deal would “provide City fans with more excitement.” And presumably spare City’s players from bearing the brunt of the bookies’ notoriously irreverent sense of humor?

Paddy recently announced the hiring of Adam Smith, former special adviser to UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport minister Jeremy Hunt, as its new head of external communications. In May, Paddy announced it was undertaking a review of its corporate brand in order to improve its regulatory and governmental communication skillz. Smith left his role as adviser to the UK minister overseeing gambling affairs in 2012 after being criticized for getting too cozy with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp as the company made its play to acquire BSkyB.

Speaking of lobbying, Paddy was among the betting interests making presentations to the Irish government’s Justice Committee on Wednesday regarding the proposed Gambling Control Bill 2013. Also submitting their two cents were Betfair, the Remote Gambling Association, the Irish Bookmakers Association and the Gaming and Leisure Association of Ireland.

Hopefully, Paddy’s new football tie-ups and political hires generate as good a return on investment as that displayed by a Belfast punter who took the Irish betting outfit for nearly £100k on a £7.50 wager. The punter won £82,319.20 for correctly picking four nags – two favorites, two outsiders – on a Lucky 15 slip, to which Paddy added a 20% bonus, bringing the Belfast boy’s bounty to £98,783.40. Paddy helpfully suggested that their lucky customer might want to use his winnings to place the same wager for free for the next 36.5 years.