Bookmaker bids to create 800 jobs

Major bookmaker Paddy Power has announced a bold bid to employ 800 more people in high-expertise, Irish-based roles by 2015.

In a move described by Taoiseach Enda Kenny as a sign of belief in the Irish jobs market, the firm is targeting people with third- and fourth-level qualifications to push forward its online gambling section.

Between now and Dec 2015, the company will create 800 jobs for those with expert e-commerce, IT, social media, quantitative research, risk management, and online marketing skills.

These positions include 189 which have been filled since Apr 1 — the equivalent of one every day — with separate plans for a further 100 jobs to be created in 2016.

The jobs announcements in the Dublin-based firm — which has strong global links to growing bases in Australia, Britain, Canada, and continental Europe — are part of the company’s bid to further increase its online gambling sector hold.

This is specifically based on groundbreaking software which allows analysts to more accurately predict betting odds during games based on millions of calculations and thousands of previous plays and possibilities.

This software is at the heart of Paddy Power’s mobile, computer, and online games developments.

Speaking at the launch of the jobs move, which comes in the same week as a similar 900-position announcement by Kerry Group, Mr Kenny said the developments prove confidence is returning to Irish business.

“This is a statement of confidence in this country and its people, and feeds into the aspiration I’ve set out on many occasions, by 2016 to prove that we are actually the best small country in the world in which to do business.

“This Government’s priority is always to prioritise businesses and give them the opportunity to do business, and to give young people an opportunity to stay here,” the Taoiseach said.

He said Paddy Power, an indigenous betting firm which is at the front of global development in the sector, was a “brand of excellence for our country” in a time of “economic transition”.

Paddy Power CEO Patrick Kennedy said the move would benefit young people who are highly qualified, but struggling to find work — with the average age of the firm’s current workforce just 28.

“These are third level and fourth level graduate jobs, they’re in the areas of IT, social media, mobile design, risk management, and mathematics,” Mr Kennedy said.

“The jobs are there because we can’t stand still.”

Paddy Power currently employs 2,172 people in Ireland — a figure in the same bracket as that offered by world leaders such as Dell (2,300 jobs), Google (2,200), and Microsoft (1,200).

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