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I played the pools in W H Smith :) As expected it is a promotional stand very similar to the lottery stand and importantly right next to the lottery stand. The £3 million is quoted quite prominently and it only costs £1 to play so cheaper than the lottery. You fill in a card and take it to the till. They process it through the till and give you a paper receipt/ticket with all the details on. Have seen NO advertising for this anywhere, hope there will be some soon otherwise it could be a wasted opportunity, but looks good and is well placed for impulse buys next to the lottery. There is information online now www.footballpools.com/instore. If you scroll right down to the bottom there is a list of participating stores which seems to include some busy airport/station sites which is promising
Spo have entered into a contract with WHS whereby you can visit a WHS branch and play the pools. Spoke to Seema this morning confirming the roll out starts today. Still disappointed by the low key promotion....how many people know about this? Has there been full page advertising in the Tabloids? Oh well...well soon find out!
Cannot access it. But I'm hopeless with mob so im not surprised.
I've uploaded a photo to www.driveat15.com/pools.jpg Not sure if the link is allowed in posts or not - hope it works.
I have sent an email. Think you should also.
Try.....ir@Sportechplc.com. send an email to inv relations.
Really weird that there seems to be no announcement and no publicity! I promise you the box and poster are there in my local WHS. I'd attach a photo if I could but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that on here.
Cheers driveat15. I rang Spo London office yesterday spoke to a nice young lady called Millie but nobody in office to confirm / deny the pools WHS tie- up. Await your news.
Due to start tomorrow in my local Smiths. I will pop in around lunchtime and post an update of what I find .... unless there's an RNS in the morning linked to the launch.
WH gets clobbered on broker downgrade. I think the market is waking up to the fact that reliance on the crack machines is a risky business, one where punters who get fleeced return on fewer and fewer occasions. The supply of mugs is not infinite. WH is trading at an c 11 year low (261) after yesterday's near 6% fall---- Until the machine review is completed the shares are best avoided imo. Better opportunities elsewhere.
What with the Govt's attack on FOBT's....more regulation....cutting spin amount / slowing spin speed.. etc..etc..., should they get their way profits of high st bookies will be decimated. They (the bookies) will have to do something about this and soon, to protect their bottom line. Sads have made their choice joining up with Coral... ie going the trad route of more shops and buying profits------ WH are still dithering. All this leads me to believe that Spo makes by far the most attractive co to tie up with as for starters we have no regulatory worries and our wide spread of activities are all state approved in the US--------expansion of our Racing division, the pools which at long last looks like getting some serious investment is taking the declining lottery on head to head and the venues business (new outlets) in Connecticut and Cal should make progress this year--------With strong cash flow...zero debt, show me a better co in the leisure/gaming sector with our fundamentals that transact 60% of its business in the worlds bigest economy now lead by a pro business President. Bit of a no brainer really!!
Lovely part of the country...Fleet. My uncle had a house in Fleet for many years and as a young lad my Dad took me to play the lovely North Hants course. Well before young Justin was a member! I remember ages ago a big kerfuffle over the Japanese buying the club-----in fact i think my uncle resigned over that business. Love to go back for a visit but no golf as my playing days are over. I'm now the bar-bore living off past glories...ahem!!
Last thought...perhaps it's the technology ie the setting up of each machine in stores is going to take time, hence the gradual roll out? Streatham had not received any promo gear. Won't April be too late to start the pools as the season ends in May?.......so we're back to Jan 26!
Keep us up to date. Cannot see the point of a gradual roll out. A mega blitz is needed!...If your gonna do it....do it.right ...FFS!!
That's weird. My locals in Hampshire (Fleet and Farnborough) are definitely starting this Thursday according to the posters on the boxes - maybe it is a gradual rollout?
Staff at Streatham say start is not till April.
No news...if it's kicking off this Thursday not long to get the news out. Why no full page ads in the tabloids?......."Play the pools at WHS"....etc.., no half coked start I hope!
Some say....that should the Govt get their way and have the £100 a spin reduced to £2 more cash will be bet on horses. Absolute rubbish! I know of no horse racing bettor who wastes money on the one armed bandits which are programmed to take more in than they pay out---'---completely different type of person, usually young, plays the machines and wouldn't know one end of a horse from the other and there's no 'buzz' in watching a 3mile chase. ------it's the instant win/lose that's addictive -----The bookies would suffer and no doubt shops profits sustained by the bandits would close, no bad thing as there is always another one close by assuming it could continue to make profits ex the £100 spin?-------A full report is due sometime soon.
WHS have over 1300 stores comprising of 612 High St shops, 768 travel outlets inc some (20) international, quite big in Australia. I remember as a kid my father playing the pools when he was in E.Africa. Previous ARs showed the spread of the pools played worldwide. Our partnership with Playwin in India is long overdue a football pools operation (if we dont have one) as the game is taking off. Spo reported years back a cricket type pools was being considered but it came to nothing as news of India went off the radar-----We should be back and big time, what with the racing connection. I think WHS are reporting this week.
Be interesting to see if we get a rns this morning as if we have some sort of tie-up with WHS this would have to be reported as it is definitely price sensitive news. The markt usually gets wind of these things ahead of any announcement so we may see some price action early. I have only one WHS in my area, (West Norwood/Tulse Hill/ Streatham/Dulwich) & that's Streatham. I know there is a very busy one at Victoria Stn, not sure about London Bridge or Waterloo---------heh maybe Spo will report we have our £4m & the WHS news this morning?
Undercuts the lottery! No more than a £ a line i hope. Those who gave up on the Pools when the lotto started may well be pleased to see the pools games back and be tempted to have a punt.
Excellent! Seems you were correct. I shall go up to my local Smiths where I know the sales girls well so will be able to get news on how the are faring. This is a big step up if it's run out nationally in WHS.
I visited a different WH Smith's branch today in the interests of research :) They also had a cardboard box covering up something with the same poster advertising the pools coming soon Jan 26th. This one was slightly larger though and was standing directly beside the lottery point of sale stand where you fill in coupons. It looked the same size as the lottery stand and on the back it advised it was a "2 person lift" so reasonably heavy/sizeable. I asked the sales assistant about and he said yes the pools is coming back, he also said that WHS is the only High Street store offering it so sounds like they have done an exclusive deal? He didn't know if it was all WHS stores (but he was only an assistant). He also didn't know exactly how it's going to work, but what I saw convinced me even more that it will be along the lines of my previous post - fill in a coupon and swipe through the till. It will obviously have cost SPO to produce all promotional stands etc, but I think placing it as an impulsee buy right next to the lotto stands is a stroke of genius. Interesting to see how they promote it but the fact that they are teasing before Jan 26th suggests they might have a nice big launch planned? Let's hope so. Oh, and I said to the sales assistant "I thought the Pools had finished years ago" and he said "so did I" !! But I do believe this could raise awareness and revive interest with a new (old) market who don't gamble online. Fingers crossed :)
Good post driveat15....... you might well be spot on with your idea of a coupon going through a lotto type machine. It would need a fair bit of advertising but an opportunity to take sales off the lotto appeals immensely! Your point of not knowing the pools was still being played is worrying but certainly bears out what I have been saying for ages that Spo damm near let the pools die in the face of overwhelming lotto odds by not promoting the business at every opportunity. Now with cash in the bank we can throw money into fully promoting the pools. If it catches on?....well who knows as there are many formats to play besides the classic pools.
I'm guessing it's going to be similar to the lottery in a shop - fill in a slip picking your 10,11 or 12 selections. Hand it to the cashier who runs it through the machine which checks your entry and gives you your receipt/ticket. I don't see any reason why the technology which works for lottery couldn't be copied for the pools. There are no details, just the teaser box and poster in Smiths, so this is purely a guess. Not long to wait til the 26th though and I think it could be a genius move to position impulse sales right next to lottery impulse sales? Excited to see what comes of this as I agree with you that many people have now been turned off the lottery and may be hankering after the traditional pools :) I didn't even realise the pools still existed until I bought shares in Sportech earlier this year, getting it advertised in High Street stores will certainly not harm its profile.