Postenoclu, Bet365, Campbell jnr... | My week in iGaming #11
So we're up to number 11 in our left field look at the world of gambling and iGaming along with some tenuous, borderline links to supposedly related topics. Warning! My Week may contain traces of humour, sarcasm or even insight.
Firstly-ish though, a belated Happy New Year to all Slot Gods readers out there. Hope you had a good Christmas and 2025 is shaping up well so far.
So what’s going on?
Ange on the ropes
Ok, first up let’s consider a bet that’s not worth placing – even if you could get someone to take it. That is, of course, Ange Postecoglu getting his P45 from Tottenham Hotspur FC. As I write (27 January) he seems to be hanging on by the single nail of a single little finger. Not for long though, surely. Aside from his team’s largely dire performances on the pitch it’s his off-pitch TV interviews that have really grabbed my attention. In the modern era of the game with all that media training and image awareness stuff how can the figurehead of one of England’s most famous clubs behave like that in front of a camera? Mumbling, barely coherent, paranoidly defensive and with the body language of an ‘executionee’ Mr ‘Postenoclu’ has made for painful viewing these past few weeks. Bets are surely off on his sacking, but where he ends up next could be interesting. And worth a bet.
That’ll do nicely
Paddy Power donated $1.027m to Prostate Cancer UK after a total of 907 180s were thrown at the recent PDC World Darts Championship. The donation was boosted by two 9-dart finishes during the tournament by Christian Kist and Damon Heta. That’s a tidy and very useful sum for the charity that supports the 1 in 8 of UK men who will at some point get prostate cancer. Well done Paddy Power.
And for the record 17-year-old Luke Littler won this year’s title. Begs the question though: where do you go when you’ve reached the pinnacle of your sport or trade at the age of just 17?
Patel still in the news
Previous Slot Gods’ My Weeks have covered the strange case of Amit Patel who fleeced US football franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars of a cool $22m while he was supposed to be managing their finances, not dipping into them.
First up he nicks the dough, gets caught and sent down. However he’s spent most of it and manages to end up with a $250 a month repayment plan. (Even without interest that will take him 88,000 months to repay.)
Next we hear that his far from little embezzlement scheme wasn’t his fault at all. It was the fault of betting companies Flutter and several others who made him do it. They “actively and intentionally targeted and preyed” on him over a 4-year period, resulting in over $20m of his employers’ dosh going awol. And he was suing them! Pause for a moment. This isn’t some underprivileged kid from the wrong side of the tracks who got chucked out of school at 13. Patel is/was an educated professional doing a professional job who should’ve known better.
It doesn’t stop there. Patel has now dismissed his lawsuits against Fox and FanDuel. Maybe they didn’t force him after all? This one looks set to run and run and twist and turn. I can’t help feeling there’s the making of a Cohn brothers film in the adventures of Amit Patel.
So what?
I’m still somewhat baffled by the media interest (obsession?) with the earnings of Denise Coates, CEO of Bet365. Bet365 is a massive and growing business being steered by Ms Coates. It’s a major player in a booming industry and delivers handsomely to its shareholders. So why are people surprised or aggrieved at Ms Coates’ wage packet? Our culture determines that success is rewarded and major success handsomely rewarded. As a society we don’t, on the whole, object to the earnings of a Beckham, Adele or Erling Haaland so why do we care so much about what people in business earn? The fuss around Denise Coates’ earnings is no doubt confounded by the industry she works in and quite probably her gender. I think it’s time some of our media commentators and others checked themselves; success should be celebrated.
For the record Bet365 itself had a whopper of a 2023-24 with revenue increasing by 9% on the previous year.
Campbell in the soup
Former Labour Party ‘enforcer’, Burnley-supporting hard man and all round X/Twitter attack dog Alastair Campbell is in the midst of a family crisis. His son, Rory, is deep in the s*** (soup?) after his football betting syndicate collapsed. Campbell fils is facing legal action over a reported £5m loss affecting around 50 investors in his failed venture.
One syndicate member, facing a £150k loss, told the Mail on Sunday: “We are all absolutely furious.”
The Mail on Sunday has taken on the story with enthusiasm (nothing to do with who the lad’s dad is, of course). They reported that the syndicate bet on English Premier League and other leagues using a mathematical modelling system that factored in things like the weather and player injuries. (Not sure how mathematical that sounds to me tbh.) Campbell junior’s lawyers have laid the blame on bookmakers in Asia not paying their debts.
Campbell senior has remained uncharacteristically tight-lipped on the matter until he works out a way to blame it on the last Conservative government.
Admiral, not admirable
Greentube Alderney Ltd, operators of Admiral Casino, is 2025's first cab off the rank when it comes to Gambling Commission (UKGC) penalties. Greentube will have to cough up a cool £1m for AML (anti-money laundering) and social responsibility failures in their processes. The period under scrutiny was September 2022 to June 2023 when Greentube were slow off the mark identifying and acting upon potentially escalating terrorism funding and money laundering risks. They also didn’t adhere to some of their own policies, including a case of not looking into a customer whose job title was ‘Finance Manager’ – a position the UKGC considers a potential risk in terms of possible fraudulent activity. Greentube was also found to not always fully or quickly enough investigate linked customer accounts – an example being two accounts at the same address with the same surname one of which had class A drug dealing convictions.
£1m is a big slap on the wrist for the company behind Admiral Casino, a well-known presence in the UK high street.
My tips…?
Well I thought Trump would make it to the White House again. Mind you it was only a 2-horse race and the other rider hadn’t made much of an impression on previous outings. I also, back in about August or September, tipped Crystal Palace to be the Premier League’s surprise package with a top 4 end of season placing. That seems highly unlikely now. Though my adopted home town team, Nottingham Forest (though I only go there when Brentford are in town) are confounding all expectations. it ‘s good to see them and the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Newcastle and Aston Villa doing well.
Saying all that I’ll probably keep my ‘tipping’ to myself for a while.