2004 Paddy Power Homepage

Paddy Power was created in 1988 by three, Irish bookmakers: Stewart Kenny, David Power, and John Corcoran. They merged their existing 40 shops to create the Paddy Power chain.

The Power brand was considered strongest at the time, so the name was maintained. The addition of “Paddy”, along with its distinctive green branding, was designed to emphasize the company’s Irish roots at a time when many UK bookmakers were making inroads into Ireland due to changes in the Irish tax code.

Paddy Power pursued an aggressive expansion strategy from the start. Opening shops in prominent locations in Irish towns to maximise its visibility. Its share of the Irish off course betting market grew from 8% in 1988 to 33% in 2001.

By 2000 Paddy Power were successful in Ireland, but they continued to expand further. Paddy Powers parent company, Power Leisure, floated on the stock exchange to fund further expansion into the UK, and they purchased PaddyPower.com to expand into the global online bookmaking market.

In 27 May 2008, Paddy Power 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.

In 2010, Paddy Power acquired a majority stake in Australian bookmaker Sportsbet.com.au.

In 2015 a merger between Paddy Power and British company Betfair was agreed which saw Paddy Power acquiring the Betfair brand. The resulting entity, Paddy Power Betfair, is based in Dublin.

Paddy Power have acquired a reputation for controversy which has gained them a lot of publicity. They have offered odds on controversial markets, such as the outcome of the Oscar Pistorius trial, which attracted so many complaints that the company was forced to cancel the bet. Other controversial markets have included bets on the first species to be driven to extinction by the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the potential extinction of the Polar Bear and whether Barack Obama would finish his term as President of the United States.

Their advertising campaigns have also attracted controversy. In 2010 an ad showing sight-impaired footballers kicking a cat received more than 400 complaints to the ASA. In 2012 Paddy Power released an advertising campaign encouraging customers to distinguish "the stallions from the mares" by placing transgender women in the crowds at the Cheltenham Festival. The ad was subsequently ruled offensive and banned by the ASA.

In October 2018, Paddy Power Betfair received a £2.2m fine from the UK Gambling Commission, after an investigation revealed that the gaming giant broke the commission's rules regarding social responsibility and anti-money laundering.

In December 2018, Paddy Power and William Hill faced further criticism after allegations that they allowed a gambling addict to wager thousands of pounds in stolen cash.

Paddy Power are official betting partners of Irish football team Shamrock Rovers and sponsored the 2018 Champions League of Darts.

Paddy Power were the first betting company to launch their own iPhone app in 2010 and for some time were the only bookmaker in the world available on the app store with mobile betting being the biggest growth area for the company. The company is now valued at over £6bn with over 600 shops in the UK as of 2017 and boats one of the biggest e-commerce businesses in the betting and gaming sector.