Paddy Power was founded in 1988 by the merger of three Irish bookies and is now the largest company in the country. They operate shops in Ireland and Britain (around 400) as well as offering telebetting, mobile betting and of course their online product paddypower.com.

They are the sixth largest online gaming company in Britain and Ireland and have expanded into France and Australia via acquisitions. In 2010 their turnover was 3.83 billion EUR and the company continues to grow at a rapid rate.

The majority of the operation is based in Dublin, although the holding company and license are situated in the Isle of Man for tax reasons. They are innovative, daring and at times a little eccentric, famously having offered odds on Barack Obama being assassinated (well, technically 'not to last the full term' but it was generally taken to be an "assassination" market!).

Paddy offers an exceptional range of sports, events and markets with plenty of novelty bets topping up the selection. Football and horse racing are the main focuses but there is also plenty for fans of most sports, although not some of lesser known European ones. They cover a huge range of football leagues with up to 150 markets available on the biggest games.

Their odds are also a strong point with Paddy's famously bold marketing meaning they often offer standout prices on some of the biggest events. Overall the odds are definitely in the top 20% of bookmakers and these odds become even more attractive when you consider the many promotions they offer.

The free bet is a bit unusual in that it varies depending on which site refers you. It's usually a fairly standard free bet, varying between 10 GBP and 100 GBP and often a 200% match on your first stake, which can become very lucrative if used wisely.

However, where Paddy really comes into their own is the almost obscene amount of extra sports book promotions they run. At the time of writing they were offering money back specials on all African Cup of Nations games, an upcoming cup (football) game (if Liverpool's Steven Gerrard scored), on a number of horse races that day, enhanced each way terms on golf (paying down to six places) and enhanced odds football doubles.

In addition they invariably offer a great promotion for the really big events. For the 2011 Champions League final they offered a refund of various bets if Barcelona were to win in 90 minutes. It looked a bad option from Paddy's perspective given the Catalan's dominance and so it proved, as the bookie was forced to refund three million euros and, according to their site, "Paddy had to cancel his holidays for the next five years."

This generosity is also to be found in the bingo, poker, games and casino suites, with loads of free money on offer there too!

Paddy has an excellent live platform with its own header on the main top menu. Everything currently live can be seen easily and the range of sports (and in particular markets) is very good, and all come with the score provided and an indication of whether the price is shortening or drifting. Upcoming events are clearly marked and you can filter by sport and also by events that are being streamed for live viewing.

Mobile betting also has a dedicated tab - paddypowermobile.com - that offers a market-leading amount of information. Everything you want to know is there and paddy also provides mobile blackjack, roulette and poker. Simply go to paddypower.com on your mobile and away you go.

Telephone: 1800 238 888 (Ireland) and 08000 565 275 (UK)
Email: support@paddypower.com
Address: Power Tower, Blocks 1-3, Belfield Office Park, Beech Hill Rd, Clonskeagh, Dublin 4
Other contact methods: Live chat, callback, online form,

Paddy Power offer excellent customer service options and one standout feature is that they show their average response times (email 49 minutes, phone 19 seconds, live chat 37 seconds). Our tests showed these to be pretty accurate as well and we never had to wait at all for live chat to be answered. On the downside, once answered, the service itself was on the slow side, even for a very basic question. They will email the transcript if asked, although it is not an option as standard and the callback facility is a nice touch.

Paddy Power are absolutely top notch in our opinion and for UK/Irish punters who are swayed by good bonuses they are close to unbeatable. They have a good range of markets, cover most sports you would want to bet on, as well as plenty of celebrity and novelty markets. The odds are above average which is amazing considering all the extra value you can obtain through the various promotions.

The in-play console is superb and the only minor negative we have is that the main website can appear slightly cluttered. This is in part due to the huge amount of information, help, tutorials and bet details paddy offer, so they lose few marks for this.

They also score highly, with us at least, for their adventurous, sometimes controversial marketing and promotions. This may not be to everyone's taste but there is no doubting that Paddy Power stand out in a very positive way.