Ladbrokes Sees a Welsh Gambler Win and Lose £38,000 in the Space of a Day; More Job Cuts Expected in London Office and Partnership With Velti Revealed.

Ladbrokes has been the home to an astonishing story this weekend as a gambler wins £38,000 on a £10 accumulator and then loses £30,000 when Australia beat Wales; 56 more jobs placed at risk in Lads London office, and a new partnership with mobile marketing outfit Velti is revealed.

As a man who lives in the Welsh Valleys I can testify to how mind numbingly boring it is to live here, so perhaps that’s the reason the Welshmen keep thinking of more ingenious ways to take money from the bookmakers.

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It was barely a month ago that our very own Kirby Garlitos broke the news of a very optimistic grandfather who placed a bet on his grandson to represent the Welsh national football team when he was just 18-months old.

Young Harry Wilson went on to make his national team debut at sweet 16 and grandfather Peter Edwards picked up a sweet £125,000 and promptly dove into retirement.

Well the Welsh are at it again, and this time it’s 56-year-old Steve Richards who has hit the headlines in a display of betting that has no doubt sent his partner potty.

Most football mad punters take a shot at the football accumulator coupons on a Saturday, and Richards was no different when he staked £10 on a series of 12 random football scores in a Ladbrokes shop in South Wales.

Incredibly, all 12 of them came in, including the final match between West Brom and Aston Villa where he needed a draw to scoop the lot and Villa fought back from two goals down to deliver Richards the largest slice of luck he will ever get in his life.

Richards had turned £10 into £38,000. Now that’s a lot of money for a roofer from Tonyrefail. So what did he do with the winnings? Treat the missus to a round the world trip? Take his family away for Christmas? Pay off the mortgage?

Not on your nelly.

Richards decided to place £30,000 on Wales to beat Australia in rugby and they promptly lost 30-26.

“It was a bit of bad luck losing the bet but I’m still almost £9,000 better off than I was when I started.” Said Richards.

It seems boredom fries the skull.

More Job Cuts at Ladbrokes

Richard’s moment of madness might not go down too well with his close family, but Ladbrokes are more than happy with the return. Not only do they get £30,000 of their £38,000 back, but they also get their name splashed across the back pages of every tabloid in the UK.

Ladbrokes need every penny they can get after embarking on a third round of redundancies across the UK with 56 jobs believed to be under threat in another cost cutting exercise.

It’s believed the offices at Rayners Lane in London are going to take the brunt of the redundancies, with the retail sector likely to end up the bloodiest.

The news comes after 100 staff underwent redundancy consultation in May, and a further 75 went through the wringer just two months ago. It’s believed that 50% of the initial cull were redeployed elsewhere in the company, saving some jobs at least.

The news comes after a difficult period for Lads, who were forced to deny speculation it was readying itself to issue what would have been its fourth profit warning of 2013. Lads shares crashed to a low of 178.5p following a leaked e-mail sent from Ireland-based brokerage firm Goodbody Stockbrokers that suggested the bookmaker’s full-year operating profit forecasts were to be cut by £10m to £135m.

Ladbrokes Partners Velti

It’s good to see that Lads are not placing their entire emphasis on cost cutting with more news of advancements in their mobile division aimed at bringing in more revenue.

The troubled outfit have followed up on their new partnership with Chelsea Apps Factory by signing a two-year deal with the mobile marketing and advertising technology provider Velti.

Velti are to supply the Lads retail division with its cloud-based mobile messaging platform, mGage Communicate Pro; designed to offer real-time messaging to enhance communication, improve efficiency and drive revenue.

Rob Sweeting, Ladbrokes’ head of retail CRM, said: “The importance of securing a market-leading partner in mobile to support our digital engagement strategy with customers is vital. We seek to deliver an excitement that customers can’t refuse and wanted to work with an experienced mobile partner to ensure that we are maximizing the effectiveness of our marketing communications to grow revenues from this important channel.”

The relationship will allow Lads to bombard their customers with a range of personalized messages through such vehicles as SMS, MMS push notifications, e-mail and social media networks.

As a Lads customer I can hardly wait.