Over The Line

To shamelessly recycle something we used elsewhere on the website, Paddy Power Chase Day at Leopardstown is one of those great things that’s associated with Christmas - like turkey and ham, mulled wine and tolerataing the company of relatives you can’t stand.

We’ve got a wonderful VIP trip Leopardstown on Saturday 27th December up for grabs. This fabulous prize includes:

- a delicious meal for two

- FREE BAR!

- a racecard you can read whilst sipping a drink from the FREE BAR!

- €200 in spending money which you won’t be able to spend at the FREE BAR!

- €250 free bet that er … has no connection to the FREE BAR!

To be in with a chance of winning simply send your username and the answer to the following question to competitions@paddypower.com. The question:

Which of the following is a meal commonly associated with Christmas Day?
(a) Turkey & Pot Noddle
(b) Turkey & Ham
(c) Turkey & Cheesebrugers

Closing date is midday on Monday 22nd December. Winner will be drawn at random. Answers left in comments scetion don’t count as proper entires - sorry.

Posted in Racing, Sportsbook, Competitions | 90 Comments »

Feeling a little let down after Ireland’s meagre performance against New Zealand? Don’t despair; we’ve got two pairs of tickets to see Ireland beat Argentina at Croke Park this weekend. That might sound like the same blind optimism and deluded confidence that led most to believe Ireland could beat the All Blacks, but Declan Kidney’s men should quite easily beat the Argies. Just ignore the irrelevant record of played 10, won 5 and lost 5.

To celebrate the fact we’ve started to sound like jumper hating Geordies, we’re giving you the chance to enjoy Saturday’s top quality International.

To be in with a chance of winning simply send your username and the answer to the following question to competitions@paddypower.com

What is the nickname of the Argentinean rugby team?

(a) The Pussycat Dolls

(b) The Garfields

(c) The Pumas

(d) Top Cats

(e) (c)

Competition closes at 12pm on Thursday 20th November. Winners will be drawn at random. Winners will be notified by Friday morning at the latest, hopefully.

Posted in Sportsbook, Competitions | 34 Comments »

More free stuff!! Yaay! In an effort to keep our loyal customers happy without sending them cold hard cash in the post, we’ve 2 pairs of tickets to give away for Ireland’s encounter with the mighty All Blacks. Guaranteed satisfaction that will take longer than the normal 30 seconds - 80 minutes of pulsating rugby in the comfortable surroundings of Croke Park.*

Posted in Sportsbook, Rugby, Competitions | 28 Comments »

There’s only one Paddy Power Open Meeting
There’s only one Paddy Power Open Meeting
There’s only one Paddy Power Open Meeting
There’s only one Paddy Power Open Meeting

What that chant lacks in rolling-off-the-tongueiness, it more than makes up for in accurateness…

Posted in Racing, Sportsbook, Competitions | 44 Comments »

Forget Barack Obama for a moment. As a new era of Irish rugby dawns under the astute tutelage of Declan Kidney, we have 2 pairs of tickets for each of the Autumn internationals against the All Blacks (if nothing else, it’ll be a great game), Argentina (Ireland could possibly win this) and Canada (did we mention the tickets are free).

To be in with your chance of winning two tickets to the Canada game at Thomond Park this Saturday, simply send your username and the answer to the following question to competitions@paddypower.com.

The potentially hazardous question:

What is the correct name of this former Triple Crown winning Ireland rugby coach?

(a) Eddie Jordan
(b) Eddie O’Sullivan
(c) Eddie Izzard
(d) Eddy Grant

Competition closes for the first pair of tickets at 12pm on Thursday 6th November. Winners will be drawn at random. Winners will be notified by Friday morning at the latest, hopefully.

Posted in Sportsbook, Rugby, Competitions | 12 Comments »

As Ray Liotta said to Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams - build it and they will come. And so it proved when you knocked us out the park with your first Suggest-A-Bet ideas. We think we are the first bookie to give our punters the chance to design a betting market and have been seriously impressed with what you’ve come up with.

And so (drumroll please) the winner is…

Wex - first debutant to score in the Premier League this weekend.

There were many terrific suggestions but we went with this one from Wex as it fits well with this weekend’s big kick off to the new season.

Wex, your bet will go live on the web later today in our football specials page for all our punters to bet on and your free bet credited accordingly.

Edit - You can now bet on Wex’s Suggest-A-Bet here

Honourable Mentions
We were genuinely impressed with all of your first suggestions, and as things get under way are now even more confident as to how successful Suggest-A-Bet might be.

So much so that this week we have picked out a second bet from your suggestions who will also receive a 50 quid free bet. And that goes to…

Towey - Handicap Match betting minus players (eg Chelsea v Portsmouth minus Lampard goals, Man Utd v Wigan minus Ronaldo goals). Towey, we love this idea but are going to hold it back for a while so it doesn’t get lost in the fuss of the new season.

A couple of other honourable mentions should go to:
Number of red cards on first day of the season, Scolari’s clothing for his Chelsea debut, first manager red card. We like where you’re coming from on these - for as it happens we’d also come up with similar stuff ourselves.
Maestro - we’d love to bet on this new show but, like The Apprentice, its a pre-record so are unable to do so.

So really, that’s how easy it is for you to land your free bet. Well done on a great start and look out for week two’s suggested themes next Tuesday.

Posted in Sportsbook, Competitions, Suggest-A-Bet | 8 Comments »

As you all know Paddy Power has a reputation for doing things a bit differently with our betting. From the famous Commentary Cliches to what bug Padraig Harrington’s son wants to put in the USPGA trophy we always like to make things a little more interesting than the norm.

Indeed, such has been the popularity of the special bets over the years that now they’re all doing it, trying to replicate our unique style. But I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that…

So as we sat down to dream up some season opening specials it got us thinking why should we have all the fun? Why not call in the big guns and our greatest asset – our loyal army of punters – to have a bit of a laugh with their betting as well?

From today we are launching the weekly Paddy Power Suggest-A-Bet where YOU become the bookie and can suggest a market for our traders to price up.

We’ll then select a winner who will not only have their market priced up and made available for all our punters to bet on via our website but will also receive a free €50/£50 bet for their divine inspiration.

Every Tuesday lunchtime here on the Paddy Power blog we will suggest a few areas you might like to consider and suggestions will be open via the blog until 10am on the Thursday morning. Most weeks this will be football but from time to time when there is a sporting occasion away from the soccer we’ll be asking for other sports too.

To give you an idea of where we are heading on this here’s a few recent examples of some bets we’ve run in the last few weeks…

- How long before Ronaldo is first mentioned in the Charity Shield Final
- 1st Player to be treated for cramp in a mtach
- How many shots will donkey Luca Toni have off target
- Greece v Russia number of letters in longest surname of a goalscorer
- 1st player to be pulled off in the Wankdorf Stadium (1st substitution)
- David James’ Cup Final hairstyle

There aren’t many guidelines really with which to stick to other than it obviously has to have a sporting chance in the outcome and not completely overstep the mark in terms of taste and decency.

This really is your opportunity to have as much fun and creativity with your suggestions as your devilish minds allow – so think outside the box and its over to you!

Areas this week we are looking for could include:
- The start of The Premiership season
- Chelsea v Portsmouth- Scolari’s 1st match v last season’s Cup Finalists
- Man Utd’s Missing Striker Conundrum

Posted in Sportsbook, Whats new, Competitions | 84 Comments »

Is it safe to look yet? After the embarrassment of Headingley now is not a good time to be a supporter of the England cricket team.

There’s no “postivies to take out of the game” as England cricketer’s are fond of saying, and you have to wonder where Peter Moores has taken the team over the last two years. If they must have Aussies in the England team at least make them good ones.

So, the timing of our latest competition could be better. But onwards and upwards, and now is the time to get behind the team and prevent South Africa winning their first ever Test series in England.

And to do that we’ve got a pair of tickets to giveaway to you lucky people for Day 3 (Friday 1st August) of the Third Test between England and South Africa along with a free £50 bet on the match

For a chance to win the tickets tell us how many runs you think will be scored in this weekend’s Twenty20 Cup Finals Weekend. That’s all the runs combined in both the semi-finals on Saturday and the final itself on Sunday. Nearest entry wins.

Then just email us your answer, your name and username to competitions@paddypower.comwith Cricket Comp in the subject box.

And remember you must be free next Friday - August 1st. Or hope that Sky’s TV cameras don’t show your boss you’ve thrown a sicky.

Closing date 12pm Saturday 26th July 2008. Winner will be notified by email on Monday morning. In case of a tie winner will be drawn randomly from the hat. Travel not included.

Posted in Sportsbook, Cricket, Competitions | Click here to comment »