NEW YORK, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Playboy.com, Inc., the wholly owned
subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA), today announced it has
signed an agreement with Ladbrokes eGaming Limited (Ladbrokes) to develop
PlayboySportsBook.com, an online sports wagering site.
Under terms of the agreement, Ladbrokes, the betting and gaming division
of Hilton Group plc (London: HG), will fund all operating costs, providing
hardware and software, management and customer support. Playboy will provide
marketing, branding, user interface, design and content. The site will be
licensed and operated out of Gibraltar.
PlayboySportsBook.com will use the expertise of Ladbrokes, the world's
biggest bookmaker, to offer a full-range of fixed odds sports wagering,
allowing international consumers to bet on American sports including football,
basketball, baseball, boxing, tennis and golf and international sports
including soccer and rugby. In addition, the site will allow participants to
wager on events ranging from elections to Playboy's Playmate of the Year. The
site will have safeguards to prevent taking bets from the United States and
other places where online sports wagering is illegal. The site will launch in
English and will add Chinese, Spanish and Italian.
Lawrence R. Lux, President of Playboy.com, said, "The site will bring
Playboy's unique brand of sexiness, excitement and fun to online sports
wagering. For example, we'll be inaugurating a Playboy Betting Bunny, a live
Playboy Playmate dressed in the classic Playboy Bunny Costume, who will serve
as the site's interactive hostess, including giving tips. In addition,
PlayboySportBook.com will offer a range of distinctive features, including
highlights of daily sports wagering events, video event coverage, sports
commentary, scores and stats and a chat 'lounge.'"
"This venture brings three powerful assets to online gaming: a globally
recognized brand, gaming expertise and access to an enormous online audience,"
said Christie Hefner, Chairman of Playboy.com. "This combined with the
expertise of Ladbrokes' and Playboy's Gaming Group will allow us to create an
online gaming experience that is exciting and fun, as well as safe and fair."
John O'Reilly, Managing Director of Ladbrokes eGaming, commented,
"Playboy's audience profile fits well with the Internet gaming audience. We
believe that the combination of Ladbrokes' knowledge and expertise in gaming
and Playboy.com's expertise in online entertainment makes for a powerful
proposition. This marriage seems to be a perfect match."
"We already have 6.5 million non-U.S. visits to Playboy.com each month and
will be adding international sites tailored to regional tastes and interests,"
said Lux. "These sites, our 16 international editions of Playboy magazine and
Playboy television networks in Asia, Europe and Latin America will generate
significant international interest and potential."
Playboy said that it believes that the online gaming market outside of the
United States includes as many as 3 million players generating revenues in
excess of $1.5 billion and will grow to 10 million players generating revenues
in excess of $6 billion by 2004. As a result the company said that it expects
to add both casino games and pari-mutuel wagering to its online gaming
initiatives in the coming year.
Ladbrokes has received authorization from the Gibraltar government to
launch the site and PlayboySportsBook.com is expected to begin operations in
the first half of 2001.
Attention Editors: To view a demo of PlayboySportsBook.com, go to
http://www.playboy.com/sportsbook .
About Playboy.com
Playboy.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
(NYSE: PLA), an international multimedia entertainment company, is the #1
lifestyle and entertainment destination Web site for men. Playboy.com
operates Playboy-branded Web sites targeting the entertainment and lifestyle
interests of young men, including: Playboy.com ( http://www.playboy.com ) an
advertising and e-commerce-supported Web site that offers a range of
entertainment information and e-commerce (http://cyber.playboy.com); Playboy
Cyber Club, a members-only subscription site featuring premium Playboy content
and exclusive online events; the Playboy Store ( http://www.playboystore.com )
which sells Playboy-branded products; and Playboy Auctions
( http://auctions.playboy.com ) which auctions Playboy-branded merchandise
and admission to exclusive Playboy events, and allows fans to auction their
own Playboy memorabilia and collectibles. Playboy.com also operates
Cyberspice.com ( http://www.cyberspice.com ) a site featuring premium adult
entertainment under the Spice brand.
About Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes, the world's biggest bookmaker, provides its customers with a
24 hour a day, 7 day a week service via 2,500 licensed betting shops in the
UK, Belgium and Ireland, state of the art call centers in London, Liverpool
and Gibraltar and its rapidly developing eGaming services. Ladbrokes offers
internet betting at http://www.ladbrokes.co.uk , and its permanently tax-free betting
site http://www.ladbrokes.com . Ladbrokes was the first to launch betting via
interactive TV with its product `Vernons Matchball', and offers interactive
services via NTL, CWC and OnNet. Ladbrokes was the first company to broadcast
live pictures of greyhound races on a betting Web site. It offers WAP betting
at http://wap.ladbrokes.co.uk and http://www.ladbrokes.com , and has signed an
agreement to develop next generation mobile betting services with BT.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as to expectations,
beliefs, plans, objectives and future financial performance and assumptions
underlying or concerning the foregoing. Such forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes
to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.
The following are some of the important factors that could cause actual
results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the
forward-looking statements: (1) government actions or initiatives, including
(a) attempts to limit or otherwise regulate the sales of adult-oriented
materials, including print, video and online materials or businesses such as
casino gaming. (b) regulation of the advertisement of tobacco products, or (c)
substantive changes in postal regulations or rates, (2) further increases in
paper prices, (3) changes in distribution technology and/or unforeseen delays
in the implementation of such technology by the cable and satellite industries
that might affect the company's plans and assumptions regarding carriage of
its program services, (4) increased competition for advertisers from other
publications and media or any significant decrease in spending by advertisers
generally or with respect to the adult male market, (5) increased competition
for transponders and channel space, and any decline in the company's access
to, and acceptance by, table and DTH systems, (6) the effects of the
consolidation taking place nationally in the single-copy magazine distribution
system, (7) marketing issues facing direct marketing stamp sheet agents, (8)
new competition in the adult cable television market, (9) uncertainty of
market acceptance of the Internet as a medium for information, entertainment,
e-commerce and advertising, an increasingly competitive environment for
advertising sales, the impact of competition from other content and
merchandise providers, as well as the Company's reliance on third parties for
technology and distribution of its online business and (10) potential adverse
effects of unresolved Year 2000 problems including external key suppliers.
SOURCE Playboy.com, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.playboy.com
CONTACT:
Investors, Martha Lindeman of Playboy
Enterprises, Inc., 312-373-2430; or Andy Clifton of Ladbrokes
eGaming Limited, 00-44-7836-733687
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