Member Info for driveat15

Well this is a quiet board, especially considering that there are 3 potential bidders for the company. Why is it so under the radar?

I see Tosca are building a stake here - recent buying at the end of Jan and this week has pushed their stake up to 19.37% now. Interesting that they are also building their stake in eSure this week to 17.1% (had been static since the end of November).

That was some jump in share volume today!

:(

Totally agree :)

I played it to check it out JohnLewis79 ! There is no separate machine, you hand your card to the sales assistant and they run it through the till. There is a promotional stand /desk where you pick up your card and fill it in. The fixtures for this week and next week are displayed on the desk, along with promotional material .... how long before the staff forget to change the fixtures list over? Don't know. In terms of where it is positioned I guess it will vary by store but in Fleet it is at the door, next to the lottery stand. There is also a poster in the window advertising it.

I agree, but nice to see them expanding the pool. Of course the more people who play the bigger the pool becomes, the bigger the prizes become, the more people it attracts .... Definitely been a "stealth" launch though!! The other positive is that even seeing it will remind people the pools still exists. Some people may play once or twice in the shop then decide to play online going forwards - that would still be a result if it increases popularity generally. I do think positioning next to the lottery is an inspired move for impulse buys, but there is a danger people think it's too complicated compared to the lottery - might have been best to just start with the lucky pick version for impulse buys and introduce the others later?

There are 3 different ways to enter : SKILL PICK - the traditional choose your fixtures from a list displayed on the stand, enter your 10 numbers on a card LUCKY PICK - they give you a random selection (like lucky dip) probably the best seller for impulse buys? MY PICK - a plastic card (credit card sized) which you write your 10 favourite numbers on and keep. Present the same card to the till each week to keep entering the same numbers (regardless of the actual fixture list)

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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 :)

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.

I noticed a large cardboard box in the entrance to WH Smith's today. It's covering something up and has a large poster on it advertising the Football Pools and saying coming soon 26th Jan. Have Sportech struck a deal to distribute the pools through High Street stores? Possibly opening us up to a wider, more traditional market for the pools amongst those who don't do/trust online betting? Looks like they could be placing the pools at the tills next to the National Lottery sales? Not sure what it means or how many high street stores are involved but this could be a great move for the pools?

But still not a sniff of any news....... What's behind the rise?