NEWS > ANALYSIS
Too little, too late
Ladbrokes ?rst began planning what was designed to be the “perfect” sportsbook and mobile platforms back in 2010, but almost three years later and after investing tens of millions of pounds on the projects, the new products are only just being slowly rolled out. Robin Harrison charts their progress
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As 2010 drew to a close, Ladbrokes began to formulate plans for a huge overhaul of its online offering, with the company preparing to start work on what was then called “the ecommerce platform” and all development on its current site halted to focus on the new product. This would see a total overhaul of the company’s sportsbook and mobile platforms – essentially creating what the company hopes to unveil as the “perfect” products in each channel. As the ?rst few weeks of 2013 pass by, migration of existing customers over to the new sportsbook platform has only just begun. Mobile is even further behind, with beta testing of the new platform set to begin this quarter. Despite originally looking to launch the new platforms in time for the European football championships last summer – a move which would also allow it to heavily promote the new sportsbook around that tournament, the London Olympics and the start of the 2012-13 Premier League season – the release is only just emerging during the traditional post-Christmas lull and when punters are less likely to place a bet. “Clearly they have had a number of management issues, hence why there have been delays, and I think they’d be the ?rst to admit that the process has taken longer than they had expected,” analyst Nick Batram of Peel Hunt explains. “But it’s a very big overhaul that they are undertaking, and I think the potential acquisitions [that failed to be agreed], such as 888 and Sportingbet, would have had an impact on this as they would distract from the development process.”