Saturday August 11, 2012 : BETFRED'S TOTE IN INTABET DEAL
No mention of the Purple Lounge debacle in trading update
Media Corp plc, the UK public company that presided over the controversial failure of subsidiary Purple Lounge.com, leaving players unpaid, is forging ahead with its new Intabet product, apparently with little concern for its former PL players.
In its latest trading update the company boasts about its current moves, but ignores its bitter past as it reports a deal between Intabet and Betfred's Totepool.com, claiming:
"Intabet, the Company's unique online gaming platform, has signed heads of terms with totepool.com to become one of Intabet's launch partners.
“With a heritage dating back to 1928 when it was founded by the UK government, totepool.com is part of the Betfred Group and the home of online pool betting. With over 500 betting shops and outlets at over 60 racecourses totepool.com is one of the industry's best known names.
"Intabet is aiming to deliver a truly innovative product to the world of bookmaking which offers the customer real value and our partners a fully managed new source of high quality customers. The Board is delighted to announce such a prestigious name as a launch partner and looks forward to providing further updates on the launch of the site in due course."
The update quotes Eddie Bennett, head of totepool.com, who said: "We are delighted to be a launch partner of Intabet. Football betting turnover is a key area that we want to grow in order to complement our market leading horse racing product. We're confident Intabet will offer convenient betting and excellent value to football fans whilst delivering high volumes of vetted bets directly to totepool.com.
“The model and platform are innovative and we are delighted to be there from the kick-off. We will continue to work with the team at Intabet as they add other sports betting opportunities to the site."
In less-controversial parts of its operations, Media Corp reported that its digital advertising agency, Eyeconomy, has extended an exclusive agreement with Digital Sports Group for a further two years.
Media Corp interim CEO Adam Fraser-Harris also revealed that the Board of Media Corporation has agreed revised terms to the loan facility announced in May 2012, including an extension for a further 12 months to 15 May 2014 and the issue of a warrant instrument that allows the loan provider to subscribe for up to GBP 750,000 at a price of 0.4p.
"The warrants will be allotted to the lender in a 2-to-1 proportion to the amount of loan drawn down in GBP 50,000 tranches and the warrants, once allotted, must be exercised on or before 31 December 2012, at which point the warrants, and the ability to be awarded any more on a draw down lapse," Fraser-Harris explained.
"This gives the company funding security due to the loan extension alongside the potential additional funding of up to GBP 750,000 of equity investment before the 31 December 2012 to drive the company forward."
He said that Media Corp intends to make the first draw down of GBP100,000 Friday, and will be allotting the corresponding GBP 200,000 of warrants accordingly.