gambling predecessor rodime plc headquarters london united kingdom area served worldwide key people roger withers non executive chairman ian penrose ceo 1 revenue 71.8 million 2008 2 net income 16.8 million 2008 2 subsidiaries littlewoods casino littlewoods bingo the new football pools slogan the trusted name in gaming website sportechplc.com sportech plc is an online gambling and entertainment company headquartered in the united kingdom . the company is traded on the london stock exchange under the symbol spo.l ; 3 the stock is a component of the ftse all share index and the ftse smallcap index . the company formerly known as rodime plc was originally an electronics company specialising in hard disk drives based in scotland . in 2000 the company changed its name to sportech plc after acquiring littlewoods pools from the littlewoods organisation for 160 million . 4 contents 1 history 2 football pools 3 poker 4 bingo 5 company today 6 references history edit sportech began as a small electronics company rodime plc based in scotland in 1979 . by 1986 it was listed on the london stock exchange . the company specialized in manufacturing hard disks inventing the 3.5 inch hard drive in early 1985 5 but soon became unprofitable due to delays in getting the product to market . by 1991 rodime ceased manufacturing hard disks . by early 2000 rodime was a shell company with a 34 million overdraft and four employees primarily in the business of suing other hard drive vendors for patent infringements related to rodime s 3.5 inch drive development work . 6 the company negotiated patent licensing settlements with seagate technology 6 conner peripherals 7 and ibm . 8 in 2000 businessman trevor hemmings masterminded a deal that merged rodime with the much larger littlewoods pools business . littlewoods had been hurt by the advent of the lottery . 4 after the acquisition the company changed its name to sportech plc. sportech purchased scientific games racing a division of scientific games corporation on 5 october 2010 . 9 scientific games racing is one of three large bet processing companies in the united states horse racing industry whose clients include major racetracks in california and new jersey as well as off track betting companies in parts of new york state . 10 football pools edit littlewoods football pools were founded in 1923 by john moores . the vernons pools were established in 1925 and zetters in 1933 . 11 the national lottery which was introduced in 1994 offered higher jackpots . this led to the decrease in popularity of the football pools . 12 the number of football pool players declined from a peak of 10 million in 1994 to 830 000 in 2006 . 13 subsequently vernons closed its doorstep collectors operation in february 1998 14 but ran a partnered lottery base game with national lottery during the 1998 99 football season . this helped it resume its business operations thereafter . in 2000 littlewoods pools was acquired by rodime as part of a 161 million deal littlewoods gaming . rechristened sportech the company s littlewoods brand bought zetters a football pool firm with 60 000 customers in 2002 for 1.35 million . 15 it bought vernons from ladbrokes in 2007 . 14 the littlewoods vernons and zetters pools were merged into one new brand the new football pools in august 2008 . 16 poker edit in 2001 sportech was one of three firms worldwide to win gambling licenses from the isle of man to run online casinos in that nation . leveraging the littlewoods brand name it launched littlewoodscasino.com . 17 18 towards the end of 2003 sportech decided to relocate its gaming operations from the isle of man to the netherlands antilles in order to broaden the range of games it currently offers . the terms of the isle of man were restrictive with operators unable to advertise their services in jurisdictions that do not yet have legalised online gaming . the isle of man would force the company to undergo a recertification process in order to upgrade its software and customers were limited as to how they could withdraw money from their accounts . seeing a successful launch of the littlewoods casino product the company wanted to move on and include littlewoods poker and an integrated jackpot product in their offering . littlewoods poker was launched in 2003 . 19 bingo edit in partnership with st minver a gaming software solutions provider sportech launched littlewoods bingo an online bingo game . st minver hosts the game using its gibraltar gaming license . 20 company today edit in 2008 sportech signed a strategic partnership with 888sport replacing cryptologic as the firm s software supplier . 21 22 references edit people sportech plc rod.l . reuters . thomson reuters . retrieved 2010 11 11 . a b jones rhys 2009 03 24 . davey james ed . update 1 sportech fy profit up 39 pct confident outlook . reuters . thomson reuters . retrieved 2010 11 11 . sportech plc rod.l . reuters . thomson reuters . retrieved 2010 11 11 . a b treanor jill 2000 06 28 . littlewoods ends pools era . the guardian . london guardian news and media . cristensen clayton m. chapter one how can great firms fail insights from the hard disk drive industry . . the innovator s dilemma when new technologies cause great firms to fail . harvard business school press . isbn 0 87584 585 1 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . a b thackeray stephen 2000 01 28 . seagate hands over 45m for fdd patent . the register . london situation publishing . retrieved 2010 11 11 . treder john 1999 . birth of a hard drive an interview with john treder . interview with albert dayes . logicsmith . retrieved 2010 11 11 . ibm agrees to pay rodime for patent on 3 inch drive . infoworld . menlo park california infoworld publishing . 12 46 66 . 1990 11 12 . issn 0199 6649 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . completion of the acquisition of scientific games racing and board changes press release . sportech plc. 2010 10 05 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . hegarty matt 2010 10 11 . british company completes scientific games deal . daily racing form . new york daily racing form . retrieved 2010 11 11 . munting roger 1996 . an economic and social history of gambling in britain and the usa . manchester united kingdom manchester university press nd . p. 129 . isbn 9780719044496 . oclc 185769393 . munting an economic and social history of gambling in britain and the usa p. 141 office of fair trading 2007 . anticipated acquisition by sportech plc of the vernons football pools business from ladbrokes plc pdf pdf . government of the united kingdom . a b walsh dominic 2007 03 08 . sportech takes 50m punt on vernons . the times . london times newspapers . retrieved 2010 11 11 . bain simon 2002 08 15 . zetters pools purchase adds to littlewoods operation . the herald . glasgow scotland smg newspapers . p. 23 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . mcdonough tony 2009 01 28 . liverpool firm rescues pools game from oblivion . liverpool daily post . liverpool united kingdom trinity mirror north west & north wales . retrieved 2010 11 11 . bain simon 2001 09 21 . sportech bid for online casino turns up trumps . the herald . glasgow scotland smg newspapers . p. 24 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . fletcher richard 2001 09 16 . littlewoods rolls out manx online casino . the telegraph . kent united kingdom telegraph media group . retrieved 2010 11 11 . final blow for online casinos . isle of man today . douglas isle of man johnston publishing . 2003 09 10 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . littlewoods bingo software from st minver online casinos.com jan balslev 2006 02 01 access date requires url help sportech 888 holdings in strategic marketing partnership . london south east . essex united kingdom london south east . thomson financial . 2008 06 24 . retrieved 2010 11 11 . king leo 2008 08 06 . sportech refreshes it for multichannel betting . cio . idg . retrieved 2010 11 11 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sportech & oldid 737360746 categories gambling companies of the united 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