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* The on-line Multi-Player Poker service was launched on 13 May 2002. Ladbrokes was the first big name betting and gaming brand to launch on-line Poker. 250,000 players have registered from 107 countries (USA excluded). Every day, over 30,000 people play Poker on-line with Ladbrokes. At the busiest times over 10,000 people will be playing against each other.

* Total unique player numbers at Ladbrokes Poker grew 167% between the first half of 2004 and the first half of 2005.

* A total of $12,000,000 cash is now won every day in cash game “Pots”. It is the biggest site in Europe and eighth globally according to pokerpulse.com. Ladbrokes is also the only site in the world not to take US players (for legal reasons) – something that is popular with players. Globally, $190m is wagered in cash game pots every day, up from just $60m at the start of Jan 2004. In 2003 the industry grew six fold – i.e. total daily cash game turnover was just $10m in Jan 2003

* Ladbrokes is estimated to enjoy 35% of the European on-line Poker tournament marketplace.

* Over 80% of customers are European. Canadian, Irish and Swedish and Danish players are statistically the strongest players. UK players are middle-ranking. Far-Eastern, Spanish and Italian speaking players are statistically the weakest, with exceptions. Interestingly, the further south in Europe you go – the weaker the play – although there are always exceptions.

* If young people represent the future – then the prospects for Poker are healthy – 60% of players at Ladbrokes Poker are under 30 years old and the average age of a Ladbrokes Poker Player is just 32 yrs. There are more 19 year olds than any other age year and 20 year olds are the most profitable by year of age. That said, during the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise 2004, an off-line event run by Ladbrokes Poker, it was a 74 year old called Eric Dalby who won the first prize of $250,000. He was the oldest player on the boat.

* Peak time on the site is 10pm to 12am GMT when Ladbrokes will deal upwards of 12,000 hands per hour to over 8,000 simultaneous players. Overall 700,000 games will be dealt in a day – that’s over eight hands every second, 24 hrs a day. There will always be at least 500 people playing, even at the slowest time of the day, which is 9am GMT.

* Ladbrokes have implemented 76 software upgrades since launch, including the introduction of completely new software on 5th June 2003. This coincided with the relocation of the backend servers from Canada to Gibraltar. Hand speed is now at optimum levels with an average of 45 seconds per hand. This is approximately three times as quick as the hand speed in an off-line card-room. As a result, on-line players learn quickly.

* On average, it takes 5% of a second for a move from a UK player, for example ‘raise’ or ‘check’ to travel from his or her computer in the UK to the servers in Gibraltar where it is registered, and for confirmation of that move to be returned to all the players at the table. This information - known as a data ‘packet’ - may travel via as many as ten Internet Service Providers en route.

Why play Ladbrokes Multi-Player Poker?

“Great Action” – “Ladbrokes has some of the best games around. There is great multi-way pot action in all forms of poker.” – On-line Poker Review. Ladbrokes Poker has the widest range of staking options and the highest average pot size on the web as well as the cheapest tables to play for the beginner.

No.1 Community – The Ladbrokes Poker room has the strongest sense of community of any Poker site on the web, due to its European concentration, unique player profiles, player leader-boards and message forum. As a non-networked site – it is independent of other sites. All players are Ladbrokes player’s which means they get a much more personal service than players at the network sites.

Brand reliability - Ladbrokes is the world’s biggest betting and gaming company. Its size and reputation reassures players that they will be dealt fairly and paid promptly. Ladbrokes, unlike other sites, does not employ robot players, shills or house players. One expert has said “When on-line poker centred on dodgy companies operating out of Costa Rica and Antigua, consumer confidence was low but the game still attracted millions, now that big boys like Ladbrokes have moved in, we’re on a whole different level”.

Liquidity – Ladbrokes has more players than any other European Poker room. Poker players want a service with plenty of choice of players to play, different game variations to enjoy and big tournament jackpots to win. Ladbrokes offers this because of its size. Any other UK gaming operator would struggle to deliver the liquidity to make a Poker site successful.

“No Americans please” – Whilst Americans are great people – they are also the best Poker players. There are thousands of professional players in the US and they make US Poker sites hard places to win money. Ladbrokes is popular, paradoxically, because it is the only site in the world that does not take US players. Also important for European players are tournament start times. At Ladbrokes they are convenient for European players, whereas tournaments at predominantly American sites start too late in the evening.

Cost-free, hassle-free banking – Unlike other operators, Ladbrokes offers commission free currency exchange into US Dollars. (All staking takes place in USD). Ladbrokes does not use bid/offer rates but runs floating mid-point prices for over 15 different currencies. There are no restrictions on taking out your winnings at Ladbrokes. Inexplicably, other operators send out cheques that can take up to three weeks to arrive. Ladbrokes pay your winnings to your bank account, immediately, upon request.

24 Hour a day Poker Manager coverage – Ladbrokes employs a team of professional poker card room managers who are always on-line to resolve disputes and provide support and advice for novice players.

The site for Poker Million – Ladbrokes and Barry Hearn’s Matchroom Sport have a Joint Venture called “Poker Million” which is Europe’s most famous Poker Tournament, covered on Sky Sports. In the 2003 Poker Million, the UK snooker player, Jimmy White won the $360,000 event, causing one of the biggest upsets in World Poker. Jimmy was quoted as the 100/1 outsider when Ladbrokes opened betting on the event. The 2004 event was won by Irish pro, Donnacha O’Dea, after a memorable ‘heads-up’ battle with Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott, arguably England’s greatest player.

The 2005 Poker Million was a groundbreaking event in the history of Poker. Ladbrokes added $855,000 to the prize money, the most amount of money every added to a poker tournament. It was won by Anthony Jones, who collected $1m when he beat second place finisher, Helen Chamberlain, having qualified for the TV stages via an on-line free-to-enter tournament. Helen won $400,000.