28/04/2008 French Tennis Federation loses case against Ladbrokes

The Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) today failed in its attempt to prevent online betting companies from taking bets on the French Open tennis tournament. The case, brought in the Belgian court, aimed to prevent Ladbrokes, along with Bwin and Betfair, from accepting bets on the event from Belgian residents.

The court, while declaring itself competent to hear the case, ruled that Ladbrokes did not infringe any rights in offering bets and acted as a normal, diligent and prudent economic operator, referring to Ladbrokes' good standards of corporate governance and codes of conduct as well as collaboration agreements with relevant sports bodies. The court also rejected the FFT claim of parasitism and instructed the Federation to pay the legal costs associated with the case.

Commenting on the case Ciaran O'Brien, Head of PR at Ladbrokes said: "This is a victory for common sense. Cases of corruption in sport resulting from betting are extremely rare and licenced, regulated sports betting supports integrity. Attempting to stop legitimate sports betting companies from accepting bets on events would merely drive betting underground and increase the risks."

For further information contact:

Head of Public Relations                       
Ciaran O’Brien                                 
Tel: 020 8 515 5104                               
Mobile +44 (0) 7976 180 173      

Head of Investor Relations 
Kate Elliott        
Tel: 020 8 515 5730
Mobile +44 (0) 7855 335 013