Paddy Power is exploiting the furore around super-injunctions with a highly personalised tongue-in-cheek email campaign to its customer base, claiming the recipient has taken out a gagging order.
Under the headline Breaking News: (Recipient’s name) denies Super-Injunction, the email reads: “The sporting world was thrown into a state of shock today as alleged “family-man” (recipient) denied claims HE was behind a recent Super-injunction concerning his relationship with Felicity Peaks. Paddypower.com have pushed him from 2/1 favourite out to 1,000/1 to be 2011 sports personality of the year. Charlie Webster reviews the papers and catches up with one of his many famous friends.”
The email then links to an online news report on EuropeanSportsNews.com, featuring news reader Charlie Webster and an interview with former Arsenal player Ray Parlour. It also features a comments section on the site, including a dozen comments such as: “This is coz of all the foreigners in the game, teaching our boys their new tricks, it makes me MAD!!!” The email then drives the recipient to the Paddy Power site.
The campaign comes amid reports that the company is considering moving its Internet and phone betting operations out of Ireland should the Irish government go ahead with plans for a 2 per cent tax on all bets. Chief executive Patrick Kennedy said that a new tax regime would unfairly disadvantage Paddy Power, which employs around 800 people in its internet and phone operations in Tallaght in Dublin. Most of its online competitors did not have a significant presence in Ireland and took a ‘‘catch-me-if-you-can approach’’ to regulation, so they would be difficult to tax, he said.
In Paddy Power’s most recent results, it reported total online operating profit increasing by 52 per cent, going from €49.9m in 2009 to €75m. Paddy Power’s active online customer base also increased in size, going up 56 per cent in a year, from 537,202 to 838,038.
