disambiguation . paddy power plc type public company traded as iseq pls industry bookmaking founded 1988 headquarters dublin ireland revenue 881.6 million 2014 1 operating income 163.8 million 2014 1 net income 144.9 million 2014 1 website paddypower.com paddypowerplc.com corporate paddy power is an irish bookmaker . offline it conducts business through a chain of licensed betting shops in ireland and the united kingdom and by operating ireland s largest telephone betting service . online it offers sports betting online poker online bingo online casino games and spread betting . it merged with betfair to create paddy power betfair on 2 february 2016 . contents 1 history 2 criticism 3 notes 4 references 5 external links history edit paddy power king street hammersmith london 2016 paddy power north end road fulham london paddy power shop in moore street dublin paddy power was founded in 1988 by the merger of the 40 shops of three irish bookmakers stewart kenny david power and john corcoran . 2 stewart kenny had sold kenny o reilly bookmakers to coral in 1986 and then opened 10 shops of his own by 1988 ; he was the ceo of paddy power until 2002 . 3 john corcoran s shops had traded as patrick corcoran . 4 david power was a son of richard power and one of several inheritors trading under the richard power name . 3 the power name was considered the strongest brand among the merged shops while the paddy name and green colouring emphasised the chain s irishness at a time when the fragmented irish industry was facing competition from british betting chains entering the market in response to changes in the irish tax code . 4 5 david power s son whose name happens to be paddy power b. 1974 5 is a marketing spokesman for the company . 6 paddy power had an aggressive expansion strategy involving opening prominent shops in most irish towns rather than side streets previously favoured . 5 the firm s novelty bets broadened its media coverage beyond the horseracing news . 5 its share of the irish off course betting market grew from 8 % in 1988 to 33 % in 2001 . 7 power lesiure parent company of paddy power plc listed on the london stock exchange in december 2000 to fund a uk expansion . 2 8 9 at the end of 2005 paddy power operated 195 outlets 150 in ireland and 45 in the uk . the total number of employees was 1 374 . on 27 may 2008 it acquired northern ireland independent bookmaker mcgranaghan racing bringing paddy power s shop count to 191 in ireland . in february 2010 the chain had 356 shops with 209 in ireland 8 in northern ireland and 139 in great britain . 10 the bookmaker is known for offering odds on controversial markets in order to garner publicity e.g. in november 2008 16 1 was laid that u.s. president barack obama would not finish his first term this was widely interpreted as his odds of assassination . 11 after english premier league new entrants stoke city lost their opening game of the 2008 09 season 3 1 to bolton wanderers paddy power controversially paid out on bets on them being relegated . when the club finished in mid table at the end of the season the company took out a full page advert in the sentinel apologising to the club and its supporters . 12 in december 2007 paddy power began offering online bingo games . the original paddy power bingo used parlay s bingo software . in 2009 paddy power moved their bingo operations from parlay to playtech s virtue fusion software platform . 13 in july 2010 the company took the unusual step of refunding bets placed on felipe massa to win the 2010 germany grand prix following the notorious team orders incident which led to fernando alonso being allowed to win the race despite massa s clear lead . 14 in october 2011 the company paid out early on new zealand winning the rugby union world cup four days before the final against france on 23 october 2011 . the company boss said new zealand have left all of their opposition so far feeling black and blue and it s inevitable us bookies will be taking a hammering from them on sunday too so punters might as well collect now . the all blacks were paddy power s 4 6 tournament favourites and were 1 9 odds on to win with france 13 2 . 15 as of november 2011 paddy power was the largest bookmaker in europe by total share value . 16 its group income was 444m in 2010 . 17 on 14 may 2010 paddy power acquired a majority stake in australian bookmaker sportsbet.com.au . 18 paddy power was placed 6th in the 2011 management today britain s most admired companies list . 19 paddy power and british rival betfair agreed terms for a merger on 8 september 2015 . the transaction was structured as an acquisition of betfair by paddy power 20 and the enlarged entity named paddy power betfair is based in dublin . 21 the merger was completed on 2 february 2016 . 22 paddy power ceo andy mccue became coo of paddy power betfair with breon corcoran ceo of betfair becoming ceo of the combined group and paddy power s gary mcgann becoming chairman . 23 andy mccue left the company in april 2016 to pursue other opportunities . 24 criticism edit paddy power has drawn criticism in the past for offering controversial markets such as odds on the first species to be driven to extinction by the bp oil spill in the gulf of mexico 25 on an assassination of u.s. president barack obama 26 27 and on the potential extinction of the polar bear . 28 paddy power s advertising campaigns have also been criticised . one showed sight impaired footballers kicking a cat for which the advertising standards authority received 400 complaints . 29 another involved imogen thomas alongside a tagline using a double entendre . 30 paddy power has also been criticised for not paying out on bets with large odds . in 2009 when shane lowry won the irish open it stated that it would not pay out on the 3000 1 odds which had mistakenly been offered and instead reached an arrangement with those involved . 31 32 paddy power also received hundreds of complaints in february 2012 when the company released an advertising campaign to spot the stallions from the mares by placing transgender women in the crowds at the cheltenham festival . the asa are currently investigating the advert which was subsequently pulled off the uk airwaves . 33 34 the following month paddy power released a controversial youtube advert depicting a middle aged man shooting tranquiliser darts at chavs at a horse racing ground and featuring a tagline stating that people can enjoy a chav free cheltenham . this was inspired by a comment from a user on paddy power s facebook page stating hope the chavs don t ruin cheltenham like they did ascot referring to a brawl on ladies day 2011 . 35 further criticism was aimed at the irish firm in march 2012 when in the buildup to the cheltenham festival it added a jockey to the famous hill carving of a white horse in uffington oxfordshire . 36 during a uefa euro 2012 match between denmark and portugal on 13 june 2012 danish forward nicklas bendtner celebrated his second goal by lowering his shorts and lifting his shirt to reveal a pair of paddy power underpants to the disgust of the national team s sponsor ladbrokes and tournament organisers uefa . bendtner was fined 100 000 by uefa and banned for one game . he later described his actions as being regrettable and not premeditated . 37 38 39 in early march 2014 5 525 complaints the most ever in history were made to the u.k. advertising standards authority asa via an online petition launched for paddy power to pull an offer for betting on the outcome of the south african trial of oscar pistorius for murder of his girlfriend . 40 on 19 march 2014 the asa upheld all 5 525 complaints that the advertisement was insensitive made light of disability made light of the death of a woman made light of a murder trial and brought advertising itself into disrepute . 41 42 the advert was discussed on an episode of the last leg where adam hills made an impassioned speech condemning it . 43 prior to the 2014 fifa world cup paddy power posted a photo on its twitter account sourced from reddit allegedly showing an overhead view of a brazilian rainforest with the message c mon england pp spelled out by the former locations of trees that had been cut down . following major criticisms over the ad from users it was revealed on 8 june 2014 that the images were fake and actually part of a campaign by paddy power to promote its anti deforestation charity effort . the company stated that we knew we d drop off a fair few christmas card lists yesterday but we couldn t resist a bit of fake twitter mischief to highlight an important issue to football fans as our world cup warm up . at least it gave people something to get animated about during last night s england honduras bore fest . 44 paddy power was criticised by the information commissioner s office for its response to an incident in 2010 where a hacker was able to obtain personal information of more than 649 000 people from its website . the data included addresses email addresses phone numbers dates of birth and security questions and answers . paddy power did not inform the information commissioner s office until four years later . 45 notes edit a b c preliminary results 2014 a b goodley simon 1 mar 2003 . did you hear the one about the irish bookie . the daily telegraph . london . retrieved 20 december 2012 . a b board of directors . paddy power . retrieved 20 december 2012 . a b boyle pat 6 september 2003 . gambler and bookie with a flair for highly unusual bets . irish independent . retrieved 20 december 2012 . a b c clower michael 17 september 1998 . man on the power throne ; paddy power are out to revolutionise irish bookmaking by beaming pictures into their shops . the racing post . london . retrieved 20 december 2012 . monaghan gabrielle 12 december 2010 . fame & fortune paddy power . the sunday times . retrieved 20 december 2012 . bookmaker paddy power reports profits of euros 18m . finfacts ireland . 31 august 2005 . retrieved 20 december 2012 . boyle pat 1 august 2001 . power directors sell 15m of their shares . irish independent . retrieved 20 december 2012 . boyle pat 23 november 2000 . power races ahead for year end float . irish independent . retrieved 20 december 2012 . paddy power about us . retrieved 2014 12 21 . books 7 november 2008 . irish independent bookie in firing line over its sniper bet . the irish independent . retrieved 23 august 2011 . stoke staying up you bet paddy power says sorry over pay out blunder . daily mail . london . 24 april 2009 . retrieved 18 april 2011 . paddy power plc . retrieved 24 january 2016 . 26 jul 2010 26 july 2010 . paddy power refunds bets on massa after ferrari farce . betting.gamingsupermarket.com . retrieved 23 august 2011 . bookie pays out on new zealand win days before final showdown with france . daily mail . london . 20 october 2011 . books 20 november 2011 . paddy power biggest in europe irish business