Victor Chandler

Infobox Company
name = Victor Chandler International

type = Private
foundation = 1946
location = 50 Town Range, Leanse Place, Gibraltar
industry = Gambling
products = Sports betting, Poker, Casino, Games
slogan = 60 Years of Trusted Gaming
homepage = [http://www.victorchandler.com/ www.victorchandler.com]

Victor Chandler is a bookmaker and chairman of the company that bears his name, Victor Chandler International. The company offers online sports betting, casino, poker and games.

In 2006, The Racing Post described Chandler as "arguably the most famous bookmaker in the world. He's the Indiana Jones of bookmaking, the fearless, swashbuckling rails layer who lit up Britain's racecourses for two decades....the gold prospector who excavated rich new revenue seams internationally, the visionary, the dashing pioneer who turned the industry inside out by upping and moving to Gibraltar in 1998."http://midas.picdar.co.uk/cgi-bin/RP?MatchIndex=1&urn=718521033&Random=1288392024&FFAC=WM0000022791&searchid=2] Outside of the business arena, Chandler was described in The Mail on Sunday on 22nd April 2007 as '...about as far as you can get from the traditional image of a bookie. Charming, modest and a gracious host, he has the air of an archetypal middle-aged English company chairman, and not a trilby in sight.' [Farmer, Duncan (2007) "What's the odds on my £5m estate in Spain selling very quickly?". London: Mail on Sunday]

History

The company was founded in 1946 by Chandler's grandfather, William Chandler, after several years ownership of Walthamstow Stadium. William Chandler was then succeded by Victor's father, also named Victor. Victor Sr. died suddenly in 1974 and the business passed over to Victor Jr., who at the time was working in the hotel industry in Spain. Having assumed control of the family business Chandler immeadiately suffered the misfortune of losing one of the business' integral assets; prime racecourse pitches. Soon, Chandler realised this to be a blessing in disuguise as it allowed him to concentrate on pursuing the other aspects of developing his firm, namely credit betting. Through this area of the business the astute Chandler made pioneering advances in opening up the industry to the Far East. Realising the huge growth potential at stake, Chandler began by laying bets to high rolling businessmen in the region and, to this present day, the Far East still provides the biggest turnover for his firm..

Off-shore Bookmaking & Gibraltar

With the knowledge accrued from catering to customers in foreign climes, Chandler sought the answer to offering a duty-free service to his customers and in 1998 took the historic step of taking his entire business off-shore to avoid UK gambling tax. His move to the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/343716.stm BBC News | The Company File | Betting on Gibraltar ] ] led to other bookmaking firms Ladbrokes and Stan James following Chandler in setting up businesses in the small peninsula. Victor Chandler is seen as responsible for Gordon Brown abolishing gambling tax in his 2001 budget. [ [http://www.out-law.com/page-1466 UK could become internet gambling leader | OUT-LAW.COM ] ] .
Thanks to Chandler's foresight and business accumen the doors were opened to Gibraltar becoming a worldwide hub for online gaming with numerous sportsbook, casino and poker licenses awarded to most of the world's largest gaming firms.

Sponsorship

Victor Chandler has sponsored several elite sporting events over the years, most notably the grade 1 listed Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot racecourse, the Victor Chandler British Masters golf tournament and the grade 1 listed Nunthorpe Stakes from 2000-2004 as the Victor Chandler Nunthorpe Stakes and then 2005-2006 as the VCBET Nunthorpe Stakes. The Victor Chandler Chase has become, for many, a yardstick for one of the Cheltenham Festival's showpiece events, the Queen Mother Champion Chase. With a back catalogue of high class winners such as Desert Orchid, in its inception year, Viking Flagship and Well Chief, the race boasts an illustrious history that is burgeoning as the years pass. [http://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/victor-chandler-chase-betting.html Hennessy Gold Cup Betting ] ] The industry website Betfair describes the race's potential when run at its best, 'If the race is run under quick conditions it can be one of the most exciting events of the season with some of the fastest chasers hurtling around the Ascot track putting in breathtaking leaps in front of the usually packed grandstands.'
In 2004 and 2005 Victor Chandler ran a top class televised poker tournament called the Victor Chandler Poker Cup which became established as one of the richest events on the circuit. With £250,000 to the tournament's first winner, Harry Demetriou and then £200,000 won in its second year by Tony Bloom, the competition attracted big-hitters from all over the world. Combine that with celebrity appearances from John McCririck, Teddy Sheringham, Ken Doherty and Eastenders' very own, 'Beppe di Marco', Michael Greco, the event commanded substantial viewing figures from the seven hour-long programmes shown on Sky Sports 2. [ [http://www.sportbusiness.com/resources/sponsorship/spon3/sw3_pp09-15.pdf Layout 1 ] ]
Victor Chandler currently sponsors the professional European Tour golfer, Graeme Storm [ [http://www.graemestorm.co.uk/ Welcome to Graeme Storm's website! ] ] and professional snooker players, 'The Darlin' of Dublin', Ken Doherty, 'On-Fire Maguire', Stephen Maguire and, 'The Outlaw', Joe Swail.
Victor Chandler is currently one of four official betting partners of the TV channel Racing UK. [ [http://www.racinguk.tv/site/Partners_20.asp racinguk.tv - Partners ] ]

Retail

Having amassed 41 betting shops in London and the surrounding area, Chandler sold the licenses to the Gala Coral Group that operate Coral Bookmakers in March 2006. Despite the sale of the majority of the licenses, Chandler kept hold of the properties in Deanery Street, Mayfair, London and the Dublin betting lounge on Upper Baggot Street. [ [http://www.bettingnewsdesk.co.uk/archivedstories.php?withid=1493 Victor Chandler - Betting News Desk ] ]

Wealth

In the Sunday Times rich list in 2008 Chandler's fortune was estimated at £365 million. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/17/ccprofile117.xml Victor Chandler: The man who calls the odds - Telegraph ] ]
In an article in The Observer in June 2008 Victor spoke of his friendship with the artist Lucien Freud [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jun/15/horseracing.sportinterviews To Victor the spoils | Sport | The Observer ] ] , including the portrait of Victor which Freud completed which was sold for £4.5m in 2006 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4535090.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Freud portrait could sell for £4m ] ] .

References