Popular 49’s Draw Has New Owners

The Company behind the popular daily 49’s game which is very popular across UK betting shops has been sold. 49’s Limited was originally set up in 1996 by the big UK bookmakers, Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill following the successful introduction of the National Lottery in 1994 which initially attracted many punters as it was new and seemingly offered the chance of winning huge prizes.

The 49’s game is essentially very similar to the National Lottery in that six balls and a bonus ball are drawn from a total of forty nine balls . The Draw takes place twice a day and is broadcast live in each of the UK’s estimated 9000 betting shops . As well as the 49’s daily draw the Company was also involved in virtual horse racing products , a Rapido draw for betting shops and marketing materials for the Irish Lottery Draw . 

The new owners are Sports Information Services (SIS) Ltd and they will takeover the full management of the daily live draws and virtual horseracing brands Portman Park, Sprint Valley, and Steepledowns, as well as virtual greyhounds from Brushwood and Millersfield.  SIS is currently owned partly by Ladbrokes and William Hill who together account for over 40% of the shares. It is not clear at this stage how much SIS have paid for 49’s Ltd. One of the early Directors of SIS was Denise Coates who served as a Director between 1997 and 2001 and later founded Bet365 which grew to be one of the biggest gambling groups across the globe. 

Mike Jones, Chairman of 49’s Limited, said: “We’ve worked in partnership with SIS for the last 20 years and they are uniquely positioned to be able to further expand the 49’s brand internationally. We look forward to seeing how they build on the excellent work the team has done over the last few years to position 49’s as a leading numbers product.”