Competition Commission
31 August 2007

News Release



52/07                                                            31 August 2007

                  FOOTBALL POOLS MERGER PROVISIONALLY CLEARED


The Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally cleared the anticipated
acquisition by Sportech plc (Sportech) of the Vernons football pools business of
Ladbrokes plc. Sportech already operates two football pools, Littlewoods and
Zetters, though the latter is very small. The acquisition of Vernons would mean
that it will have virtually 100 per cent of the UK football pools market.

In a summary of its provisional findings published today at 
www.competition-commission.org.uk, the CC has concluded that the acquisition may 
not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition.

Peter Davis, Inquiry Chairman, said:

Although Littlewoods and Vernons pools provide customers with similar products,
we found little evidence that customers have switched between the two in the
past. There was, for instance, no evidence of customer switching to Littlewoods
when Vernons closed its house-to-house collector network in 1998, to Vernons
when Littlewoods raised its entry prices in 1999, or more recently between the
companies following direct mail marketing initiatives. Similarly, the extensive
customer survey evidence we examined pointed to the conclusion that pools
customers would be unlikely to switch between the two in large numbers in the
event of a future price rise.

With or without the merger, the companies' ability to increase their prices or
otherwise reduce the value of the product it offers, for example by reducing the
proportion of the total stakes it returns as prizes, appears to be constrained
primarily by the likelihood that customers will stop playing the pools
altogether.  That constraint will not be affected by the merger.

Consequently we provisionally conclude that Littlewoods and Vernons are not
exercising a substantial competitive constraint on each other and therefore
allowing the merger would not result in a substantial lessening of competition.

The full provisional findings report has also been published today.

Anyone wishing to comment further on the provisional findings is requested to do
so by 21 September 2007 by email to edwin.james@cc.gsi.gov.uk or in writing to:


Inquiry Secretary (Sportech/Vernons merger inquiry)
Victoria House
Southampton Row
London
WC1B 4AD



The CC is required to publish its final report by 17 October 2007.

Notes for editors

1.      The CC is an independent public body, which carries out investigations
into mergers, markets and the regulated industries.

2.      The members of the Sportech/Vernons inquiry group are: Peter Davis
(Group Chairman), Roger Davis, Peter Stoddart and Jonathan Whiticar.

3.      The Enterprise Act 2002 empowers the Office of Fair Trading to refer to
the CC completed or proposed mergers for investigation and report which create
or enhance a 25 per cent share of supply in the UK (or a substantial part
thereof) or where the UK turnover associated with the enterprise being acquired
is over £70 million.

4.      The CC has a 24-week period in which it is required to publish its
report, which may be extended by no more than eight weeks if it considers that
there are special reasons why the report cannot be published within that period.
It is required to report by 17 October 2007.

5.      Enquiries should be directed to Siobhan Allen on 020 7271 0242 (email
siobhan.allen@cc.gsi.gov.uk).


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