1.
Bookmaker (gambling)
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A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization that, or a person who, takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. When a large bet comes in, a bookmaker may also try to lay off the risk by buying bets from other bookmakers. Bookmakers do not generally attempt to make money from the bets themselves but rather by acting as market makers and their working methods are similar to that of an actuary, who does a similar balancing of financial outcomes of events for the assurance and insurance industries. Depending on jurisdiction, bookmaking may be legal or illegal, and is often regulated, however, gambling debts were unenforceable under English law until the Gambling Act 2005. Many bookmakers are members of IBAS, an industry organisation used to settle disputes, bookmaking is generally illegal in the United States, with Nevada being a notable exception due to the influence of Las Vegas. In some countries, such as Singapore, Sweden, Canada, and Japan, in Canada, this is part of the lottery program and is known as Sport Select. Following the Gaming Act 1845, the only gambling allowed in the United Kingdom was at race tracks, the introduction of special excursion trains meant that all classes of society could attend the new racecourses opening across the country. Cash concentrated towards the bookmakers who employed bodyguards against protection gangs operating within the vast crowds, in 1961, Harold Macmillans Conservative government legalised betting shops, with tough measures enacted to ensure that bookmakers remained honest. A large industry has grown since, at one time, there were over 15,000 betting shops. Now, through consolidation, they have reduced to between 9,100 and 9,200 in 2013. The group of the largest bookmakers in the country, known as the Big Three, comprises William Hill, Ladbrokes, improved TV coverage and the modernisation of the law have allowed betting in shops and casinos in most countries. A so-called super-casino had been planned for construction in Manchester, although online gambling first started in 1994 when the licensing authority of Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade & Processes Act, bookmakers did not get involved until 2001. They were forced to act when research at the time there were eight million online players worldwide. The main websites require bets to be from countries where Internet gambling is allowed, some small bookmakers and startups purchase software from specialized white label solution providers. Controversially, the explosion in Internet gambling is being linked to a rise in gambling addiction, according to the UKs help and advice organizations for addicts, GamCare and Gamblers Anonymous. These online exchange markets operate a market index of prices near but usually not at 100% competitiveness, true wholesale odds are odds that operate at 100% of probabilistic outcomes. Betting exchanges compete with the traditional bookmaker, however, traditionally, arbitrage has always been possible by backing all outcomes with bookmakers, as opposed to laying an outcome on an exchange. Exchanges, however, allow bookmakers to see the state of the market and set their odds accordingly, with the increasing number of online betting exchanges, betting exchanges are now providing free bet offers in an attempt to lure customers away from the competition
2.
Andrew Black (gambling entrepreneur)
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Andrew Black is a British entrepreneur who, together with Edward Wray, founded Betfair, the worlds first and largest bet exchange. He is now an angel investor in technology businesses in the UK and further afield. He has won awards, most notably Ernst & Young emerging entrepreneur of the year in 2002. Black was born on 13 May 1963, the son of a property developer and grandson of Tory MP for Wimbledon Sir Cyril Black, who campaigned, among other things, against gambling. After initial success, full time gambling looked unlikely to provide sufficient financial support for Black, who was newly married, so he set up a software business. The business won a contract at GCHQ which involved being locked out of the office every day at 5.00 pm. He became friends with Wray through playing together and showed him a prototype he had programmed which succeeded in securing Wrays interest. Black and Wray launched Betfair in 2000, having secured £1m of investment from friends and family, other bet exchanges launched at the same time, but worked on the basis of offering single bets which interested punters would then accept individually. Betfair operated on a more similar to a financial exchange, allowing among other things. This approach, combined with the acquisition of rival Flutter in 2001, in 2010 Betfair was floated on the London Stock Exchange at a £13 share price which valued it at £1. 4bn, making Blacks 15% stake worth approximately £200m. Black is known to have retained much of his stake, benefiting from the share prices subsequent climb to £44 before Betfair was delisted when it was merged with Paddy Power in 2016, Black is the joint owner of racehorse Brown Panther who won the Goodwood Cup in 2013. In 2014 Brown Panther won the Irish St. Leger by six lengths. com, Black has his own horseracing blog Berts Blog where he discusses his bloodstock operations. The blog also features interviews with former Betfair staff such as Tony Clare, Steve High and Martin Cruddace
3.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
6.
Earnings before interest and taxes
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In accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes, is a measure of a firms profit that includes all expenses except interest and income tax expenses. It is the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses, when a firm does not have non-operating income, then operating income is sometimes used as a synonym for EBIT and operating profit. To calculate EBIT, expenses are subtracted from revenues, net income is later obtained by subtracting interest and taxes from the result
7.
Net income
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In business, net income is an entitys income minus cost of goods sold, expenses and taxes for an accounting period. In the context of the presentation of financial statements, the IFRS Foundation defines net income as synonymous with profit, net income is a distinct accounting concept from profit but the same as net profit. Net income can also be calculated by adding a companys operating income to non-operating income, net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings. As profit and earnings are used synonymously for income, net earnings, often, the term income is substituted for net income, yet this is not preferred due to the possible ambiguity. Net income is called the bottom line because it is typically found on the last line of a companys income statement. The items deducted will typically include tax expense, financing expense, likewise, preferred stock dividends will be subtracted too, though they are not an expense. For a merchandising company, subtracted costs may be the cost of goods sold, sales discounts, for a product company advertising, manufacturing, and design and development costs are included
8.
Headquarters
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Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility for managing all business activities, in the UK, the term head office is most commonly used for the HQs of large corporations. The term is also used regarding military organizations, a headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance. Many companies have an office at a different address to their corporate office. A headquarters normally includes the leader of business unit and his or her staff as well as all functions to manage the business unit, the head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit. Military headquarters take many forms depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command, typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union. The forward or tactical HQs is a group of staff. The main HQs is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations, there are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise the commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff who coordinates the staff effort, the rear or logistic HQs is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City, the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery, Moscow. The World Council of Churches, including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva, the headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Anglican Communion Office is in London. In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido, kendo, there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. The Japanese word honbu is generally used for that, also outside Japan, sometimes they refer to this headquarters as honbu dojo in which dojo is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu is written as hombu, the way it is pronounced, but according to the Hepburn transcription, weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army Janes, London,516 pp. Wanner, Herbert Global and regional corporate headquarters in, Kählin, Christian, H. Switzerland Business & Investment Handbook, Orell Füssli and Wiley, Wanner, Herbert, LeClef, Xavier, & Shimizu, Hiroshi Global Headquarters on the Move, From Administrators to Facilitators Prims Second Semester 2004, Arthur D. Little
9.
Hammersmith
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Hammersmith is a district in west London, located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is bordered by Shepherds Bush to the north, Kensington to the east, Chiswick to the west and it is linked by Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes in the southwest. The area is one of west Londons key commercial and employment centres and it is a major transport hub for west London, with two London Underground stations and a bus station at Hammersmith Broadway. In the early 1660s, Hammersmiths first parish church, which later became St Pauls, was built by Sir Nicholas Crispe who ran the brickworks in Hammersmith and it contained a monument to Crispe as well as a bronze bust of King Charles I by Hubert Le Sueur. In 1696 Sir Samuel Morland was buried there, the church was completely rebuilt in 1883, but the monument and bust were transferred to the new church. The Hammersmith Suspension Bridge, designed by William Tierney Clark, was built across the Thames in 1827, in 1984–1985 the bridge received structural support, and between 1997 and 2000 the bridge underwent major strengthening work. In 1745, two Scots, James Lee and Lewis Kennedy, established the Vineyard Nursery, over six acres devoted to landscaping plants, during the next hundred and fifty years the nursery introduced many new plants to England, including fuchsia and the standard rose tree. Major industrial sites included the Osram lamp factory at Brook Green, during both World Wars, Waring & Gillows furniture factory, in Cambridge Grove, became the site of aircraft manufacture. Hammersmith is located at the confluence of a key arterial route out of central London with several local feeder roads and a bridge over the Thames. The focal point of the district is the centre located at this confluence, which houses a shopping centre, bus station, an Underground station. Stretching about 750m westwards from this centre is King Street, Hammersmiths main shopping street. Named after John King, Bishop of London, it contains a shopping centre, many small shops, the Town Hall, the Lyric Theatre, a cinema. King Street is supplemented by other shops along Shepherds Bush Road to the north, Hammersmiths office activity takes place mainly to the eastern side of its centre, along Hammersmith Road and in the Ark, an office complex to the south of the flyover which traverses the area. There are two NHS hospitals in Hammersmith - Charing Cross Hospital to the south on Fulham Palace Road, Charing Cross Hospital is a large multi-disciplinary hospital with accident & emergency and teaching departments run by the Imperial College School of Medicine. The Ark office building, designed by British architect Ralph Erskine, Hammersmith Bridge Road Surgery was designed by Guy Greenfield. 22 St Peters Square the former Royal Chiswick Laundry and Island Records HQ converted to architects studios and it has a Hammersmith Society Conservation award plaque and has been included in tours in Architecture Week. Riverside Studios is a cinema, performance space, bar and cafe, riverside Studios was formerly BBC studios used for TV productions. The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is just off King Street, Hammersmith Apollo concert hall and theatre is just south of the gyratory
10.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
11.
London Stock Exchange
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The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London in the United Kingdom. As of December 2014, the Exchange had a capitalisation of US$6.06 trillion. The Exchange was founded in 1801 and its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pauls Cathedral in the City of London, the Exchange is part of the London Stock Exchange Group. London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s oldest stock exchanges, London Stock Exchange Group was created in October 2007 when London Stock Exchange merged with Milan Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana. The Royal Exchange had been founded by English financier Thomas Gresham on the model of the Antwerp Bourse and it was opened by Elizabeth I of England in 1571. During the 17th century, stockbrokers were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their rude manners and they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, notably Jonathans Coffee-House. At that coffee house, a broker named John Casting started listing the prices of a few commodities, exchange rates and certain key provisions such as salt, coal, originally, this was not a daily list and was only published a few days of the week. This list and activity was moved to Garraway’s coffee house. Public auctions during this period were conducted for the duration that a length of tallow candle could burn, as stocks grew, with new companies joining to raise capital, the royal court also raised some monies. These are the earliest evidence of organised trading in securities in London. After Greshams Royal Exchange building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, it was rebuilt and this was a move away from coffee houses and a step towards the modern model of stock exchange. The Royal Exchange not only housed brokers but also merchants and merchandise and this was the birth of a regulated stock market, which had teething problems in the shape of unlicensed brokers. In order to regulate these, Parliament brought out an act in 1697 that levied heavy penalties and it also set a fixed number of brokers, which was later increased as the size of the trade grew. The street in which they were now dealing was known as Exchange Alley, Parliament tried to regulate this and ban the unofficial traders from the Change streets. Traders became weary of bubbles when companies rose quickly and fell, after the Seven Years War, trade at Jonathans coffee house boomed again. In 1773, Jonathan, together with 150 other brokers, formed a club and opened a new and this now had a set entrance fee, through which traders could enter the stock room and trade securities. It was, however, not a location for trading. Fraud was also rife during these times and in order to such dealings
12.
Paddy Power
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Paddy Power is an Irish bookmaker. Offline it conducts business through a chain of licensed betting shops in Ireland and the United Kingdom, online it offers sports betting, online poker, online bingo, online casino games, and spread betting. It merged with Betfair to create Paddy Power Betfair on 2 February 2016, Paddy Power was founded in 1988 by the merger of the 40 shops of three Irish bookmakers, Stewart Kenny, David Power, and John Corcoran. Stewart Kenny and Vincent OReilly had sold Kenny OReilly bookmakers to Coral in 1986 and then opened 10 shops of their own by 1988, John Corcorans shops had traded as Patrick Corcoran. David Power was a son of Richard Power and one of several inheritors trading under the Richard Power name, David Powers son, whose name happens to be Paddy Power, is a marketing spokesman for the company. Paddy Power had an expansion strategy involving opening prominent shops in most Irish towns. The firms novelty bets broadened its coverage beyond the horseracing news. Its share of the Irish off-course betting market grew from 8% in 1988 to 33% in 2001, Power Lesiure, parent company of Paddy Power PLC, listed on the London Stock Exchange in December 2000 to fund a UK expansion. At the end of 2005 Paddy Power operated 195 outlets, the total number of employees was 1,374. On 27 May 2008, it acquired Northern Ireland independent bookmaker McGranaghan Racing, bringing Paddy Powers shop count to 191 in Ireland, in February 2010, the chain had 356 shops with 209 in Ireland,8 in Northern Ireland and 139 in Great Britain. The bookmaker is known for offering odds on controversial markets in order to garner publicity, e. g. in November 2008, 16–1 was laid that U. S. President Barack Obama would not finish his first term. After English Premier League new entrants Stoke City lost their game of the 2008–09 season 3–1 to Bolton Wanderers. When the club finished in mid-table at the end of the season the company took out a full page advert in The Sentinel apologising to the club, in December 2007, Paddy Power began offering online bingo games. The original Paddy Power Bingo used Parlays bingo software, in 2009, Paddy Power moved their bingo operations from Parlay to Playtechs Virtue Fusion software platform. In October 2011, the company paid out early on New Zealand winning the Rugby Union World Cup, the All Blacks were Paddy Powers 4/6 tournament favourites and were 1/9 odds on to win with France 13/2. As of November 2011 Paddy Power was the largest bookmaker in Europe by total share value and its group income was €444m in 2010. On 14 May 2010, Paddy Power acquired a majority stake in Australian bookmaker Sportsbet. com. au, Paddy Power was placed 6th in the 2011 Management Today Britains most admired companies list. Paddy Power and British rival Betfair agreed terms for a merger on 8 September 2015, the transaction was structured as an acquisition of Betfair by Paddy Power and the enlarged entity, named Paddy Power Betfair, is based in Dublin
13.
SoftBank Group
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SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation established on September 3,1981, and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It has operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, Internet, technology services, finance, media and marketing, semiconductor design, the company is headed by founder Masayoshi Son. SoftBank was ranked in the Forbes Global 2000 list as the 62nd largest public company in the world, between 2009 and 2014, SoftBanks market capitalization increased by 557%, the fourth largest relative increase in the world over that period. SoftBank bought COMDEX from The Interface Group in 1995, and in 1999 allowed organizers of COMDEX to restrict admission of media and they eventually sold COMDEX to Key3Media, a spin-off of Ziff Davis, in 2001. On January 28,2005, SoftBank became the owner of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, on March 17,2006, SoftBank announced its agreement to buy Vodafone Japan, giving it a stake in Japans $78 billion mobile market. In April 2006, they bought a 23% stake of Betfair, in August 2006, SoftBank sold all its shares of SBI Group to a subsidiary of SBIs holding company, making SBI independent. On October 1,2006, Vodafone Japan changed its name, mobile phone brand name, and its mobile phone domain name to SoftBank Mobile, SoftBank. On January 28,2008, it was announced that SoftBank and this cellphone contains more than 400 platinum diamond, totaling more than 20 carat. The cost is said to be more than 100,000,000 yen, on February 3,2010, SoftBank acquired 13. 7% in Ustream with the option to increase shares to 30% by July 2011. On October 1,2010, Ayumi Hamasaki became the commercial spokesperson, on October 3,2012, the take over of competitor eAccess was announced, and was completed in January 2013. On July 1,2013, SoftBank announced that Willcom became a wholly owned subsidiary effective July 1,2013, eAccess was merged with Willcom, which resulted in a new subsidiary and brand from Yahoo. On October 15,2012, SoftBank announced plans to control of American Sprint Nextel by purchasing a 70% stake for $20 billion. On July 6,2013, the United States Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank’s acquisition of the Sprint Corporation for $22.2 billion for a 78% ownership interest in Sprint. The acquisition involved payment of $17.2 billion in cash to Sprint shareholders, the transaction was financed by way of cash and a bridge loan from a consortium of banks. On August 6,2013, SoftBank bought 2% more shares of Sprint Corporation, in October 2013, SoftBank acquired 51% stake in Supercell for a reported $2.1 billion. In 2014, SoftBank co-designed Pepper, a robot, with Aldebaran Robotics. In May 2015, Masayoshi Son said he would appoint Nikesh Arora, Arora has been heading SoftBanks investment arm. On June 1,2015, SoftBank acquired additional 22. 7% stake in Supercell, increasing its stake to 73. 2%
14.
TVG Network
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TVG Network is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by Betfair Group plc. When TVG launched in 1999, it was the first and only network in the United States to be devoted to horse racing. It is currently the largest interactive horse racing network, and is available in more than 30 million pay television households nationwide. The channel was launched on July 14,1999, and was founded by the United Video Satellite Group, on October 5,1999, Gemstar International Group Ltd. purchased United Video Satellite Group. In May 2006, TVG introduced several new programs to its schedule including Morning Line, Fandicapping,58 Flat, Lady Luck, TVG also provides all access coverage on select weekends. TVG places microphones on select jockeys, owners, trainers, the site was discontinued at the start of 2012 due to a site upgrade, and currently redirects to TVG. com. In late February 2007, TVG ended its affiliation with Churchill Downs Incorporated. On May 2,2008, Gemstar-TV Guide was acquired by Macrovision for $2.8 billion, in late 2008, Macrovision sold TVG to Betfair for $50 million in cash consideration. The deal was consummated on January 27,2009, separating the channel from the company acquired its founding owner in 2007. In February 2015, Betfair acquired TVGs sole competitor, HRTV, the network was re-branded as a sister network, TVG2, in October 2015. TVGs CEO Kip Levin explained that the merger allowed the company to better utilize TVGs state-of-the-art television facilities to deliver a product for both networks. We look forward to continuing to work with our important track and distribution partners to deliver more races, TVG account holders are able to wager online at TVG. com, or by landline or mobile phone. EX Indicates a racetrack that TVG maintains an agreement to be the horse racing broadcaster of that tracks races. The following tracks are available for wagering at TVG. com, TVG also shows races from international tracks in Australia, Dubai, Great Britain, Ireland, the network also broadcasts races from various tracks in Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan. Drive Time – A harness racing program, featuring action from Meadowlands, home of the Hambletonian, Horseracing All Access – A program providing a behind the scenes look at horse racing from an insiders perspective. International Racing – A program with the format as Horseracing Today. Legends – A program featuring in-depth conversations with the legends of horseracing, Pick 6 Central – A program providing analysis for major Pick 6 Carryovers. Race Night – Live race telecasts, airing Monday through Thursday evenings, Racing Coast to Coast – Live racing from some of the top tracks across the United States
15.
TiVo Corporation
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TiVo Corporation is an American technology company. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents, the company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry. In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc. Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985, by the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services. John O. Ryan and William A. Krepick led the company through an IPO in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick. Macrovision acquired Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2,2008, in a deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience, the divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1,2008, becoming Acresso Software. Macrovision also ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on entertainment, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network. The company also bought two companies providing entertainment metadata, All Media Guide on November 6,2007, and substantially all the assets of Muze, on July 16,2009, Macrovision Solution Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation. Rovi announced its first product on January 7,2010 – TotalGuide, on March 16,2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for such as Napster, eMusic. On June 16,2010, the announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising. On December 23,2010, the announced its intention to acquire Sonic Solutions. Sonic provided digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow an OTT technology provider, on March 1,2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide SideReel. The company announced Amorosos intention to retire on May 26,2011, tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011. Continuing on this path, the made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX. On April 1,2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services, the technology would be integrated into Rovis audience analysis services
16.
TV Guide
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In 1948, he printed New York City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the variety series The Gloria Swanson Hour. Wagner later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for New England, five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his publishing and broadcasting company Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant for the magazine until 1963. The national TV Guides first issue was released on April 3,1953. The inaugural cover featured a photograph of Lucille Balls newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr. with a photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the issues headline. The magazine was published in digest size, which remained its printed format for 52 years. The launch as a magazine with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success, with TV Guide becoming the most read. The initial cost of issue was 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold at the counters of grocery stores nationwide. Until the 1980s, the pieces included in each issue were promoted in a television commercial. Over the decades, the shape of the TV Guide logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen, at first, the logo had various colored backgrounds until the familiar red background became the standard in the 1960s with occasional changes used for special editions. The magazine was first based in an office in downtown Philadelphia, before moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor. The color section was sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. It was under Triangles ownership of WFIL-TV that Dick Clark and American Bandstand came to popularity, most listing entries in the log included program genres after the programs title, while its running time was listed in the synopses. Originally, the majority of programs listed in the log each issue featured brief synopses, except for local and national newscasts, in addition, black-and-white ads for programs scheduled to air on broadcast stations – and later, cable channels – during prime time were included within the listings. A regular feature of the section was Close-Up, which provided expanded reviews of select programs airing each day. The advent of television would become hard on TV Guide. Channels that were listed also differed, depending on the edition, as the years went on, more cable channels were added into the listings of each edition
17.
New York Racing Association
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The New York Racing Association, Inc. is the not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest thoroughbred horse-racing tracks in the state of New York. It runs Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, NYRAs corporate offices are headquartered at the Aqueduct Race Track. The corporation is the successor to the Greater New York Association, NYRA is separate from the governing body that oversees racing in New York, the former New York State Racing and Wagering Board. In 1913, racing returned to New York after a hiatus, only four tracks had survived the hiatus. These were Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, Jamaica Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course, the tracks came under common ownership with the creation of a non-profit association known as the Greater New York Association in 1955. The association remodeled Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course and demolished Jamaica, the partnership became the New York Racing Association on April 10,1958. Later, Belmont Park was closed from 1963 to 1968 in order to construct a new grandstand, from December,2003 through September,2005, NYRA operated under a deferred prosecution agreement following a 2003 federal indictment. The charges related alleged income tax evasion and money laundering by mutuel clerks between 1980 and 1999 with the knowledge of NYRA middle managers, the association emerged from bankruptcy protection September 12,2008 with incorporation of a successor corporation, New York Racing Association Inc. NYRA was reorganized and its franchise to operate the three racetracks was extended through 2033 under legislation approved by the New York state legislature on February 13,2008, the new authorization provided $105 million in direct state aid and forgave millions more in state loans to NYRA. The association also gave up its claim to ownership of the land on which the three racetracks are situated, in return, the state gained expanded oversight responsibility. The state comptroller won the power to audit NYRAs books, the conversion of NYRA from a non-profit association to a not-for-profit corporation also gave the state attorney general enhanced oversight authority. In addition, the state now appoints 11 of the corporations 25 directors, by changing from non-profit to not-for-profit status, NYRA also gained flexibility in its financial management. The New York Racing Association conducts year-round racing in New York, in the winter it operates at Aqueduct, from May to mid-July the operates Belmont. In the latter part of July, all of August into the beginning of September, from September to the end of October racing returns to Belmont. The year concludes in the fall at Aqueduct, NYRA sponsors the Triple Crown for fillies in the US, known as the Triple Tiara. The New York Racing Association has its own law enforcement force composed of uniformed New York State certified Peace Officers, Fire Marshals, the members of this force are responsible for enforcing NYS laws as well as NYRA rules and regulations both on and around NYRA facilities per NYS law. Security Guards supplement the force with non enforcement duties, official site New York Racing Association collected news and commentary
18.
Ticker symbol
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A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both, ticker symbol refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker tape of a ticker tape machine. Stock symbols are unique identifiers assigned to each security traded on a particular market, for example, AAPL is for Apple Inc. OODH is for Orion DHC, Inc. and HD is for Home Depot, a stock symbol can consist of letters, numbers, or a combination of both, and is a way to uniquely identify that stock. The symbols were kept as short as possible to reduce the number of characters that had to be printed on the ticker tape, the allocation of symbols and formatting convention is specific to each stock exchange. In the US, for example, stock tickers are typically between 1 and 4 letters and represent the name where possible. In Europe, most exchanges use three-letter codes, for example Dutch consumer goods company Unilever traded on the Amsterdam Euronext exchange has the symbol UNA, while in Asia, numbers are often used as stock tickers to avoid issues for international investors when using non-Latin scripts. For example, the bank HSBCs stock traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has the ticker symbol 0005, symbols sometimes change to reflect mergers. Prior to the 1999 merger with Mobil Oil, Exxon used a spelling of the company XON as its ticker symbol. The symbol of the firm after the merger was XOM, symbols are sometimes reused, in the US the single-letter symbols are particularly sought after as vanity symbols. For example, since Mar 2008 Visa Inc. has used the symbol V that had previously used by Vivendi which had delisted. To fully qualify a stock, both the ticker and the exchange or country of listing needs to be known, on many systems both must be specified to uniquely identify the security. This is often done by appending the location or exchange code to the ticker, although stock tickers identify a security, they are exchange dependent, generally limited to stocks and can change. These limitations have led to the development of other codes in financial markets to identify securities for settlement purposes, the most prevalent of these is the International Securities Identifying Number. An ISIN uniquely identifies a security and its structure is defined in ISO6166, Securities for which ISINs are issued include bonds, commercial paper, stocks, and warrants. The ISIN identifies the security, not the exchange on which it trades, for instance, Daimler AG stock trades on twenty-two different stock exchanges worldwide, and is priced in five different currencies, it has the same ISIN on each, though not the same ticker symbol. ISIN cannot specify a particular trade in this case, and another identifier, following the introduction of the Sequence trading platform in 1996, EPICs were renamed Tradable Instrument Display Mnemonics, but they are still widely referred to as EPICs. Stocks can also be identified using their SEDOL number or their ISIN, in the United States, modern letter-only ticker symbols were developed by Standard & Poors to bring a national standard to investing
19.
Gibraltar
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Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence
20.
Online poker
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Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Traditional venues for playing poker, such as casinos and poker rooms, also, brick and mortar casinos are reluctant to promote poker because it is difficult for them to profit from it. Though the rake, or time charge, of traditional casinos is often high, Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick, Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes and often offer poker freeroll tournaments, attracting beginners and/or less wealthy clientele. Online venues may be vulnerable to certain types of fraud. However, they have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick, Online poker rooms also check players IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables. Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the form of IRC poker, Planet Poker was the first online card room to offer real money games in 1998. The first real money poker game was dealt on January 1,1998, author Mike Caro became the face of Planet Poker in October 1999. The major online poker sites offer varying features to new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain entry to real-life poker tournaments and it was through one such tournament on PokerStars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the event, causing shock in the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured three times as many players as in 2003, at least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker,2004 winner Greg Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom, the $340 million acquisition marked the first time an online card room was owned by a public company. Since then, several other card room parent companies have gone public, at the time of the IPO, ninety-two percent of Party Gamings income came from poker operations. In early 2006, PartyGaming moved to acquire EmpirePoker. com from Empire Online, later in the year, bwin, an Austrian-based online gambling company, acquired PokerRoom. com. Other poker rooms such as PokerStars that were rumored to be exploring initial public offerings have postponed them, as of March 2008, there are fewer than forty stand-alone cardrooms and poker networks with detectable levels of traffic. There are however more than 600 independent doorways or skins into the group of network sites, as of January 2009, the majority of online poker traffic occurs on just a few major networks, among them PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the iPoker Network
21.
Software
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Computer software, or simply software, is that part of a computer system that consists of data or computer instructions, in contrast to the physical hardware from which the system is built. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all information processed by computer systems, programs, computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media. Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can be used on its own. At the lowest level, executable code consists of machine language instructions specific to an individual processor—typically a central processing unit, a machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also cause something to appear on a display of the computer system—a state change which should be visible to the user. The processor carries out the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed to jump to a different instruction, the majority of software is written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for programmers, meaning closer to a natural language. High-level languages are translated into machine language using a compiler or an interpreter or a combination of the two, an outline for what would have been the first piece of software was written by Ada Lovelace in the 19th century, for the planned Analytical Engine. However, neither the Analytical Engine nor any software for it were ever created, the first theory about software—prior to creation of computers as we know them today—was proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem. This eventually led to the creation of the academic fields of computer science and software engineering. Computer science is more theoretical, whereas software engineering focuses on practical concerns. However, prior to 1946, software as we now understand it—programs stored in the memory of stored-program digital computers—did not yet exist, the first electronic computing devices were instead rewired in order to reprogram them. On virtually all platforms, software can be grouped into a few broad categories. There are many different types of software, because the range of tasks that can be performed with a modern computer is so large—see list of software. System software includes, Operating systems, which are collections of software that manage resources and provides common services for other software that runs on top of them. Supervisory programs, boot loaders, shells and window systems are parts of operating systems. In practice, an operating system bundled with additional software so that a user can potentially do some work with a computer that only has an operating system. Device drivers, which operate or control a particular type of device that is attached to a computer, utilities, which are computer programs designed to assist users in the maintenance and care of their computers
22.
New Jersey
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New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the statistical areas of New York City. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, in the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. New Jersey was the site of decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa. The pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains, around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as rivers, swamps. New Jersey was originally settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact, scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that is now New Jersey. The Lenape society was divided into clans that were based upon common female ancestors. These clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign, Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf and they first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade. The Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey, the Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of ownership was not recognized by the Lenape. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which eventually became the Bergen, peter Minuits purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and it was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the states inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic, New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants
23.
Bulgaria
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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
24.
Betfair Pty Limited v Western Australia
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The first plaintiff, Betfair Pty Ltd, operated a national betting exchange licensed in Tasmania and operated legally under Tasmanian law. The amended Act placed three restrictions on the plaintiffs, firstly, under the newly inserted s 27B it would be illegal for Betfair, the first plaintiff, to operate a betting exchange in Western Australia. Secondly, under the newly inserted s 24aa of the Act, it would be illegal for residents of Western Australia, such as Mr. Erceg, the second plaintiff, to place a wager through a betting exchange. Furthermore, under the newly inserted ss 27C and 27D of the Act, Betfair argued that these amendments, namely ss 24 and 27D were invalid under s 92 of Constitution, as the amendments imposed ‘discriminatory burdens of a protectionist kind’. Section 24 prevented Betfair from competing for telephone and online gamblers, Betfair was the only betting operator out of 115 which did not receive ministerial approval under Section 27D, and was therefore prevented from publishing the fields of Western Australian races. The defendants submitted that these provisions, although discriminatory, were not used for the purpose of protectionism, Betfair Australia Australian constitutional law Oreb, Betting Across Borders, Betfair Pty Ltd v Western - Case Note 31 Sydney Law Review 607
25.
Government of Tasmania
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The Government of Tasmania, also referred to as the Tasmanian Government, is the state democratic administrative authority of Tasmania. The Government of Tasmania, a constitutional monarchy, was formed in 1856 as prescribed in its Constitution. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, Tasmania has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, under the Australian Constitution, Tasmania ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas. In practice, however, the independence of the Australian states has been eroded by the increasing financial domination of the Commonwealth. Tasmania is governed according to the principles of the Westminster System, Executive power rests formally with the Executive Council, which consists of the Governor and senior ministers. The current ministry of Tasmania comprises the following nine Liberal members, there are five House of Assembly divisions, Bass, Braddon, Denison, Franklin and Lyons. These divisions have the boundaries as the five Commonwealth House of Representatives divisions for Tasmania. There are twenty-five members of the House of Assembly, with five members elected for each of the using the Hare-Clark voting system of multi-member proportional representation. Members are elected for a term of up to 4 years, Tasmanias Legislative Council is the upper house of the Tasmanian parliament. The boundaries of the current divisions are determined by the Legislative Council Redistribution Tribunal, elections are conducted on a 6-year periodic cycle. Elections for 3 members are held in May one year, with elections for 2 members held in May the following year, since 1841, both houses have met in Parliament House in Hobart. The building was intended as a customs house but changed use when Tasmania achieved self-government. The Tasmanian Government delivers services, determines policy and regulations, including legal interpretation, each portfolio is led by a government minister who is a member of the Parliament. The Government of Tasmania also owns and operates a number of state-owned companies, Aurora Energy, electricity, forestry Tasmania, the manager of public forests and plantations for logging, sawmilling and woodchipping. Hydro Tasmania, a generator of electricity, management of hydroelectric schemes. Also owns a mainland Australian energy retailer, Momentum Energy, Irrigation Tasmania, tasked with the planning, construction and maintenance of the Tasmanian Irrigation Schemes culminating pipes, dams and pumping stations. Metro Tasmania, a transportation company, running busses in the metropolitan areas of the state. Motor Accidents Insurance Board, public insurance resulting from car accidents, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, operates the tourism venture at Port Arthur, maintains the ruins of the gaol and historic site
26.
Malta
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Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Italy,284 km east of Tunisia, the country covers just over 316 km2, with a population of just under 450,000, making it one of the worlds smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which at 0.8 km2, is the smallest national capital in the European Union, Malta has one national language, which is Maltese, and English as an official language. John, French and British, have ruled the islands, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 for the countrys bravery in the Second World War. The George Cross continues to appear on Maltas national flag, the country became a republic in 1974, and although no longer a Commonwealth realm, remains a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004, in 2008, Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. The origin of the term Malta is uncertain, and the modern-day variation derives from the Maltese language, the most common etymology is that the word Malta derives from the Greek word μέλι, meli, honey. The ancient Greeks called the island Μελίτη meaning honey-sweet, possibly due to Maltas unique production of honey, an endemic species of bee lives on the island. The Romans went on to call the island Melita, which can be considered either as a latinisation of the Greek Μελίτη or the adaptation of the Doric Greek pronunciation of the same word Μελίτα. Another conjecture suggests that the word Malta comes from the Phoenician word Maleth a haven or port in reference to Maltas many bays, few other etymological mentions appear in classical literature, with the term Malta appearing in its present form in the Antonine Itinerary. The extinction of the hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic period were discovered in areas and also in caves. The Sicani were the tribe known to have inhabited the island at this time and are generally regarded as being closely related to the Iberians. Pottery from the Għar Dalam phase is similar to found in Agrigento. A culture of megalithis temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period, the temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BCE. Animal bones and a knife found behind an altar stone suggest that temple rituals included animal sacrifice. Tentative information suggests that the sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, the culture apparently disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BC. Archaeologists speculate that the builders fell victim to famine or disease
27.
Totalisator
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A tote board is a large numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track or at a telethon. Parimutuel systems had used totalisator boards since the 1860s and they were housed in substantial buildings. However the manual systems often resulted in delays in calculations of better payouts. The first all-mechanical totalisator was invented by George Julius, Julius was a consulting engineer, based in Sydney. That attitude had changed by late 1907 when he argued that the totalisator removed much of the evil of gambling with bookmakers, bishop Julius was himself a noted amateur mechanic with a reputation for fixing clocks and organs in parishes he visited. The first all-mechanical machine was installed at Ellerslie Racecourse in New Zealand in 1913, George Julius founded Automatic Totalisators Limited in 1917, which supplied the Premier Totalisator, now including electrical components. The first totalisators installed in the United States were at Hialeah Park, Florida, in 1932, the first entirely electronic totalisator was developed in 1966. Totalisators have been superseded by general purpose computers running specialised wagering software such as Autotote, in many cases beyond older systems, telethon tote boards have either been replaced by LCD displays showing totals, or scoreboards adapted to display dollar amounts. An automatic totalisator is a device to add up the bets in a betting system. The whole of the pot is divided pro rata to the placed on the winning competitor. Essentially it implements a system of starting price betting, the machine did not actually calculate the payout
28.
States and territories of Australia
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Australia is a federation of six states, together with ten federal territories. The Australian mainland consists of five of the six federated states, the state of Tasmania is an island about 200 kilometers from the mainland. The remaining seven territories are classified for some purposes as external territories, aside from the Australian Antarctic Territory, which is Australias claim to part of Antarctica, Australia is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area. Since 2015, federal control has also extended to the formerly self-governing territory of Norfolk Island. Three of the territories are inhabited, the others are uninhabited. The term geographic Australia is used by the Australian government to describe the area covered by demographic statistics such as national population figures and this area comprises Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands in addition to the six states and three mainland territories. Norfolk Island is the territory with a native population that is not part of geographic Australia. Both territories were reincorporated as the Northern Territory at the end of this period, from 1923 to 1968, the United Nations Trust Territory of Nauru was under Australian administration, until independence as the Republic of Nauru. From 1949 to 1975, the Territory of Papua and New Guinea was a territory of Australia, the states originated as separate British colonies prior to Federation in 1901. Upon Federation, the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the territories, by contrast, are from a constitutional perspective directly subject to the Commonwealth Government, laws for territories are determined by the Australian Parliament. Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth Government, in the self-governing territories, the Australian Parliament retains the full power to legislate, and can override laws made by the territorial institutions, which it has done on rare occasions. For the purposes of Australian intergovernmental bodies, the Northern Territory, each state has a Governor, appointed by the Queen, which by convention she does on the advice of the state Premier. The Administrator of the Northern Territory, by contrast, is appointed by the Governor-General, Jervis Bay Territory is the only non-self-governing internal territory. Until 1989, it was administered as if it were a part of the ACT, although residents of the Jervis Bay Territory are generally subject to laws made by the ACT Legislative Assembly, they are not represented in the Assembly. They are represented in the Parliament of Australia as part of the Electoral Division of Fraser in the ACT, in other respects, the territory is administered directly by the Federal Government through the Territories portfolio. The external territory of Norfolk Island possessed a degree of self-government from 1979 until 2015, each state has a bicameral parliament except Queensland, which abolished its upper house in 1922. The lower house is called the Legislative Assembly, except in South Australia and Tasmania, Tasmania is the only state to use proportional representation for elections to its lower house, all others elect members from single member constituencies, using preferential voting. The upper house is called the Legislative Council and is elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation
29.
Constitution of Australia
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The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the government of the Commonwealth of Australia operates, including its relationship to the States of Australia. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 became law on 9 July 1900, and entered into force on 1 January 1901. Other pieces of legislation have constitutional significance for Australia, even though the same person, Queen Elizabeth II, is the monarch of both countries, she acts in a distinct capacity as monarch of each. Under Australias common law system, the High Court of Australia and their decisions determine the interpretation and application of the constitution. However, the Constitution has continued to develop since then, with two laws having particularly significant impact on the status of the nation. However, impetus came from Britain and there was only lacklustre local support. These difficulties led to the failure of attempts to bring about federation in the 1850s and 1860s. The Federal Council could legislate on certain subjects, but did not have a permanent secretariat, the absence of New South Wales, the largest colony, also diminished its representative value. By the 1891 conference, significant momentum had been built for the federalist cause, under the guidance of Sir Samuel Griffith, a draft constitution was drawn up. However, these meetings lacked popular support, furthermore, the draft constitution sidestepped certain important issues, such as tariff policy. The draft of 1891 was submitted to colonial parliaments but lapsed in New South Wales, in 1895, the six premiers of the Australian colonies agreed to establish a new Convention by popular vote. The Convention met over the course of a year from 1897 to 1898, the meetings produced a new draft which contained substantially the same principles of government as the 1891 draft, but with added provisions for responsible government. To ensure popular support, the draft was presented to the electors of each colony, after one failed attempt, an amended draft was submitted to the electors of each colony except Western Australia. After ratification by the five colonies, the Bill was presented to the British Imperial Parliament with an Address requesting Queen Victoria to enact the Bill, finally, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1900. Western Australia finally agreed to join the Commonwealth in time for it to be an member of the Commonwealth of Australia. In 1988, the copy of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 from the Public Record Office in London was lent to Australia for the purposes of the Australian Bicentenary. As a result, since Australia was still legally a colony and this was resolved by the Statute of Westminster 1931, adopted by the Commonwealth via the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942. The Statute of Westminster freed the Dominions, including the Commonwealth, legally, this is often regarded as the moment of Australias national independence
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High Court of Australia
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The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. The High Court is mandated by Constitution section 71, which vests in it the power of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Court was constituted by, and its first members were appointed under and it now operates under Constitution sections 71 to 75, the Judiciary Act, and the High Court of Australia Act 1979. It is composed of seven Justices, the Chief Justice of Australia, currently Susan Kiefel and they are appointed by the Governor-General of Australia, on the advice of the federal government, and under the constitution must retire at age 70. Since 1979, The High Court has been located in Canberra, the majority of its sittings are held in the High Court building, situated in the Parliamentary Triangle, overlooking Lake Burley Griffin. With an increasing utilisation of video links, sittings are also held in the state capitals. The High Court exercises both original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction, the High Court is the court of final appeal with the ability to interpret the common law for the whole of Australia, not just the state or territory in which the matter arose. The High Courts broad jurisdiction is similar to that of the Supreme Court of Canada, as such, the court is able to develop the common law consistently across all the states and territories. This role, alongside its role in constitutional interpretation, is one of the courts most significant and this broad array of jurisdiction enables the High Court to take a leading role in Australian law and contributes to a consistency and uniformity among the laws of the different states. The original jurisdiction of the High Court refers to matters that are heard in the High Court. The Constitution confers actual and potential original jurisdiction, Section 75 of the Constitution confers original jurisdiction in regard to all matters, The conferral of original jurisdiction creates some problems for the High Court. For example, challenges against immigration-related decisions are brought against an officer of the Commonwealth within the original jurisdiction of the High Court. However, the inclusion of constitutional matters in section 76, rather than section 75, in practice, section 75 and section 75 are broad enough that many constitutional matters would still be within jurisdiction. The 1998 Constitutional Convention recommended an amendment to the constitution to prevent the possibility of the jurisdiction being removed by Parliament, failure to proceed on this issue suggests that it was considered highly unlikely that Parliament would ever take this step. The requirement of a matter in section 75 and section 76 of the means that a concrete issue must need to be resolved. The High Courts appellate jurisdiction is defined under Section 73 of the Constitution, however, section 73 allows the appellate jurisdiction to be limited with such exceptions and subject to such regulations as the Parliament prescribes. Parliament has prescribed a large limitation in section 35A of the Judiciary Act 1903 and this requires special leave to appeal. Special leave is granted only where a question of law is raised that is of public importance, therefore, while the High Court is the final court of appeal, it cannot be considered a general court of appeal
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Section 92 of the Constitution of Australia
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Other speakers, such as John Downer, felt that such was not the case. An amendment was passed, substituting between the States for throughout the Commonwealth, towards the end of the session, that phrase was changed to read among the States, but not without intense debate about the nature of the clause. Barton responded to the criticism thus, The final wording that appeared as s.92 was adopted towards the end of the Melbourne session and he was probably the last person to give it any praise. That, however, has not found significant support in Australias constitutional jurisprudence and it also ruled that it restricted the Commonwealth Parliament as well as State Parliaments, thus greatly affecting the Parliaments authority to regulate interstate trade and commerce under s.51. Latham C. J. summarized it thus, Some notable exclusions from the scope of s, accordingly, in Barley Marketing Board v Norman, it was held that the compulsory sale of barley to a State marketing board did not contravene s. 92, as the grain had not yet entered interstate trade, are the measures necessary and appropriate, and adapted to protecting the local interest. Is the impact on trade and commerce incidental and not disproportionate to the achievement of the objective of protecting the public interest. The Commonwealth Constitution, Section 92 - Its History in the Federal Conventions, university of Western Australia Law Review. The Commonwealth Constitution, Section 92 - Its History in the Federal Conventions, university of Western Australia Law Review. The Commonwealth Constitution, Section 92 - Its History in the Federal Conventions, university of Western Australia Law Review. Section 92 — A problem piece, the Re-interpretation of Section 92, The Decline of Free Enterprise and the Rise of Free Trade. In the beginning there was interstate trade, Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics. Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, Section 92 of the Australian Constitution since Cole v Whitfield. A European saving test for Section 92 of the Australian Constitution, the High Court and the Constitution. Leichhardt, New South Wales, The Federation Press
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Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v South Australia
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The Beverage Container Act 1975 required a mandatory deposit of 5 cents per bottle, which would be refunded when they were returned, refillable bottles were exempt from this deposit. A later amendment, the Beverage Container Act Amendment Act 1986 subjected non-refillable bottles to a refund of 15 cents, further more, the refund for non-refillable bottles was to be implemented by retailers, instead of a collection depot. The Bond brewing companies brewed beer, most notably from the Tooheys Brewery, outside of South Australia, although a 5-cent deposit would not have disadvantaged the Bond companies, the later Acts higher deposit and refund mechanism acted together to make their beer uncompetitive. Around the time of the amending Act, the Bond companies advertising campaign had increased their market share at the expense of the principal South Australian brewer, the plaintiffs sought a declaration that the laws were invalid as being contrary to section 92. The Courts unanimous decision was that, in case, the legislation was contrary to section 92 of the Constitution. Prima facie, a law that imposes a prohibition or requirement on both interstate and intrastate trade, or upon a particular interstate trader, is not protectionist. However, if the law is designed to secure a legitimate object, the joint judgment by Mason CJ, Brennan, Deane, Dawson and Toohey JJ outlines the reasons why the 1986 legislation is not appropriate and adapted to the protection of the environment. The magnitude of the difference in refund between refillable and non-refillable bottles greatly exceeded the amount required to disadvantage the sale of beer in non-refillable bottles, Container deposit legislation in Australia Australian constitutional law Winterton, G. et al. Australian federal constitutional law, commentary and materials,1999
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Crown Resorts
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Crown Resorts Limited is one of Australias largest gaming and entertainment groups which had, in June 2015, a market capitalisation of just over A$7.5 billion. Crown wholly owns and operates two of Australia’s leading gaming and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth, the company was established in 2007 when Publishing & Broadcasting Limited divested its gaming assets to Crown Limited. PBL was renamed Consolidated Media Holdings, retaining all of the remaining assets, in December 2007, Australian gaming company Crown Limited agreed to buy CCR for $1.75 billion. The agreement was ended in March 2009, however, with Crown instead buying a 24.5 percent stake in the company for $370 million, in 2008, Crown attempted to enter the Las Vegas gambling market by acquiring a 19. This was one of a succession of major losses in Gateway Casinos, Harrahs Entertainment. In September 2013, the Sri Lankan government gave approval to Crowns chairman and largest shareholder, James Packer, the project was to be completed by 2015. However, when a new government took office, President Maithripala Sirisena canceled all three casino licenses awarded by the administration, including the Crown Resorts project. Ground broke in 2015 and will open in 2017, in August 2014 Betfair completed the sale of their 50% stake in Betfair Australia to venture partner Crown Resorts, one of Australias largest gaming and entertainment groups. In August 2014, Crown bought the site of the New Frontier Hotel, in December 2014, James Packer signed a deal with Matthew Tripp, which gained Packer control over Tripp’s online betting platform BetEasy. On 26 June 2015, Crown officially announced that the new hotel, called Alon Las Vegas, Crown announced in December 2016 that it was halting the project and seeking to sell its investment. In 2016, ground broke on Crown Sydney and will open in 2020, in Feb 2017, Barry Felstead replaced Rowen Craigie as CEO Crown Resorts Melbourne. The companys Crown Resorts Foundation makes grants to the arts, community welfare, education, health care, crownBet was convicted of the five offences and ordered to pay a total of $10,500 in fines and also ordered to pay L&GNSW legal costs of $10,000
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Stock market
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Examples of the latter include shares of private companies which are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms. Stock exchanges list shares of equity as well as other security types, e. g. corporate bonds. Stocks can be categorised in various way, one way is by the country where the company is domiciled. S. At the close of 2012, the size of the stock market was about US$55 trillion. By country, the largest market was the United States, followed by Japan, as of 2015, there are a total of 60 stock exchanges in the world with a total market capitalization of $69 trillion. Of these, there are 16 exchanges with a capitalization of $1 trillion or more. Apart from the Australian Securities Exchange, these 16 exchanges are based in one of three continents, North America, Europe and Asia, a stock exchange is a place where, or an organization through which, individuals and organisations can trade stocks. Many large companies have their stock listed on a stock exchange and this makes the stock more liquid and thus more attractive to many investors. It may also act as a guarantor of settlement, other stocks may be traded over the counter, that is, through a dealer. Some large companies will have their stock listed on more than one exchange in different countries, Stock exchanges may also cover other types of securities, such as fixed interest securities or derivatives, which are more likely to be traded OTC. Trade in stock markets means the transfer for money of a stock or security from a seller to a buyer and this requires these two parties to agree on a price. Equities confer an ownership interest in a particular company and their buy or sell orders may be executed on their behalf by a stock exchange trader. Some exchanges are physical locations where transactions are carried out on a trading floor and this method is used in some stock exchanges and commodity exchanges, and involves traders shouting bid and offer prices. The other type of exchange has a network of computers where trades are made electronically. An example of such an exchange is the NASDAQ, a potential buyer bids a specific price for a stock, and a potential seller asks a specific price for the same stock. Buying or selling at the means you will accept any ask price or bid price for the stock. When the bid and ask prices match, a sale takes place, on a first-come, the purpose of a stock exchange is to facilitate the exchange of securities between buyers and sellers, thus providing a marketplace. The exchanges provide real-time trading information on the securities, facilitating price discovery
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Initial public offering
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Through this process, a privately held company transforms into a public company. Initial public offerings are used by companies to raise the expansion of capital, possibly to monetize the investments of early private investors. A company selling shares is never required to repay the capital to its public investors, after the IPO, when shares trade freely in the open market, money passes between public investors. The IPO process is known as going public. Details of the offering are disclosed to potential purchasers in the form of a lengthy document known as a prospectus. Most companies undertake an IPO with the assistance of an investment banking firm acting in the capacity of an underwriter, underwriters provide several services, including help with correctly assessing the value of shares and establishing a public market for shares. Alternative methods such as the dutch auction have also been explored, in terms of size and public participation, the two most notable examples of this method is the Google IPO and Snapchats parent company Snap Inc. China has recently emerged as a major IPO market, with several of the largest IPOs taking place in that country, the earliest form of a company which issued public shares was the case of the publicani during the Roman Republic. Like modern joint-stock companies, the publicani were legal bodies independent of their members whose ownership was divided into shares, there is evidence that these shares were sold to public investors and traded in a type of over-the-counter market in the Forum, near the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The shares fluctuated in value, encouraging the activity of speculators, mere evidence remains of the prices for which partes were sold, the nature of initial public offerings, or a description of stock market behavior. Publicanis lost favor with the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, the first modern IPO occurred in March 1602 when the Dutch East India Company offered shares of the company to the public in order to raise capital. All the shares were tradable, and the shareholders received receipts for the purchase, a share certificate documenting payment and ownership such as we know today was not issued but ownership was instead entered in the companys share register. In the United States, the first IPO was the offering of Bank of North America around 1783. An IPO, therefore, allows a company to tap into a pool of potential investors to provide itself with capital for future growth, repayment of debt. A company selling shares is never required to repay the capital to its public investors. Those investors must endure the unpredictable nature of the market to price. After the IPO, when shares trade freely in the open market, for early private investors who choose to sell shares as part of the IPO process, the IPO represents an opportunity to monetize their investment. This type of offering is not dilutive, since no new shares are being created, once a company is listed, it is able to issue additional common shares in a number of different ways, one of which is the follow-on offering
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Serious Organised Crime Agency
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The Serious Organised Crime Agency was a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom which existed from 1 April 2006 until 7 October 2013. SOCA was a law enforcement agency with Home Office sponsorship, established as a body corporate under Section 1 of the Serious Organised Crime. It operated within the United Kingdom and collaborated with foreign law enforcement. The Assets Recovery Agency became part of SOCA in 2008, while the Serious Fraud Office remained a separate agency, SOCA Officers could be designated the powers of a constable, customs officer or immigration officer and/or any combination of these three sets of powers. The Director General of SOCA was responsible for determining which powers were given to members of staff which could be altered depending on the nature of the investigation and those police powers requiring a constable to be in uniform could not be exercised by SOCA Officers as the agency was non-uniformed. In June 2011, the government announced that SOCAs operations would be merged into a larger National Crime Agency to launch in 2013. The new agency, created through the Crime and Courts Act 2013, according to Home Office figures organised crime costs the UK around £20 billion each year, with some estimates putting the figure as high as £40 billion. SOCA was an agency which had the role of reducing harm, not specifically the arrest, elements of the media attempted to draw parallels between the organisation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States, indeed, parts of the press labelled SOCA the British FBI. SOCA was subject to internal and external governance mechanisms as the police service. The SOCA Professional Standards Department was responsible for receiving, investigating and monitoring the progress of public complaints about the misconduct of SOCA officers, Serious complaints regarding SOCA were dealt with by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The IPCC would decide the method of investigation. In general terms, the IPCC would handle complaints against SOCA officers in the manner as complaints against police officers or officers of HMRC. The Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland dealt with complaints in Northern Ireland, in Scotland, this was the responsibility of the Lord Advocate. There was also a bespoke inspection regime for SOCA, provided through Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary, the agency was an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by, but operationally independent from, the Home Office. It was funded by the UKs central government, with a budget for 2006/7 of £457m, of which £416m funded on-going resources. At formation it was intended to have around 4,200 employees, of the remaining workforce, half would be criminal investigators and the other half would focus on analysis and intelligence. SOCA co-operated closely with the police, intelligence agencies, HM Revenue and Customs, foreign police forces, SOCA was led by a board comprising non-executive and executive members. The founding non-executive chairman, responsible for the approach of the Agency, was Sir Stephen Lander, former Director General of the Security Service
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Broadcast delay
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In radio and television, broadcast delay refers to the practice of intentionally delaying broadcast of live material. A short delay is used to prevent profanity, bloopers, violence, or other undesirable material from making it to air. In this instance, it is referred to as a seven-second delay or profanity delay. Longer delays can also be introduced, often to allow a show to air at the time for the local market as is sometimes done with nationally broadcast programs in countries with multiple time zones. That can sometimes be achieved with a video tape recorder or similar technology. In the context of digital video recorders, this can now be considered a class of time shifting. This includes Southern California, despite the fact that Southern California is where many live televised events take place, nationally telecast morning news shows in the US typically are aired live only in the Eastern time zone, while on tape delay in the remaining time zones. This allows post-production staff to edit out any glitches that occurred during the live broadcast, tape delay also refers to the process of broadcasting an event at a later scheduled time. This is because either a scheduling conflict prevents a live telecast and this can also be done due to time constraints where certain portions are edited out, or availability of hosts or other key production staff only at certain times of the day. Sporting events aired on tape delay are often edited down for time considerations, highlighting what the broadcaster feels are the most interesting portions of the event, a system of rollers guided the tape over the playback head before it wound up on the take up reel. This system was introduced in 1952 when WKAP started a show called Open Mic. It is believed that this was the first time a telephone call-in show was broadcast with the telephone conversation live on the air, the FCC rules at the time prohibited the broadcasting of a live phone conversation. However, there was no rule prohibiting a taped playback of a phone call, the six-second delay constituted a taped phone conversation, thus complying with FCC regulations, that being a legal fiction. The broadcast profanity delay was invented by C, frank Cordaro who was Chief Engineer of WKAP, originally on AM1320, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s and early 1960s. This new device was to be used on the Open Mic radio talk show, the device Cordaro developed was the first tape delay system. WKAP was one of stations owned by the Rahal brothers of West Virginia. First tested and used at WKAP, this system for broadcast profanity delay was then installed at the other Rahal-owned radio stations. From the Rahal brothers stations, the broadcast profanity delay went into common usage throughout the US, john Nebel, who began a pioneering radio talk show in New York City in 1954, was one of the early users of a tape delay system
