Littlewoods Company History

The company history of Littlewoods from 1923 to the present day including the launch dates of all the Littlewoods gaming product such as Littlewods Football Pools and the online gaming sites Littlewoods Poker and Littlewoods casino.

• 1923 Littlewoods Football Pools founded in Liverpool by Sir John Moores.
• 1939 Littlewoods Football Pools devotes its resources to the war effort (World War II).
• 1946 Littlewoods Football Pools resumes normal business.
• 1950 First £100,000 Football Pools winner.
• 1957 Collector network is introduced.
• 1972 First £500,000 Football Pools winner.
• 1973 Littlewoods Spot the Ball is launched as a weekly year round competition.
• 1979 First £750,000 Football Pools winner.
• 1986 First £1,000,000 Football Pools winner and the biggest ever prize in any British competition.
• 1987 League Football Cup is sponsored by Littlewoods.
• 1988 Littlewoods Football Pools pays out over £3,000,000 in one week.
• 1990 First £2,000,000 Football Pools winner.
• 1994 Littlewoods Lotteries is launched.
• 1994 Littlewoods become the first ever sponsors of the FA Cup in its 123 year history with a sponsorship deal worth £14m over 4 years.
• 1997 Littlewoods football games launch on the Internet.
• 1998 Littlewoods Bet Direct is launched.
• 2000 Sportech PLC acquires Littlewoods Gaming (formerly Littlewoods Leisure) from The Littlewoods Organisation for £161m.
• 2002Littlewoodscasino.com is launched.
  Sportech purchase Zetters Football Pools.
• 2003 Littlewoodsgameon.com Launched.
  Launch of littlewoodspoker.com.
  Littlewoods Spot the Ball pays out its largest ever cash prize of £250,000.
• 2005 Ian Penrose appointed as Chief Executive.
  John Barnes appointed as non-executive director.
  Piers Pottinger appointed as non-executive chairman.
• 2006 Piers Pottinger appointed as Chairman.
  Gary Speakman promoted to Chief Operating Officer.
• 2006 Launch of littlewoodsbingo.com
• 2006 Launch of Goal Rush, the World Cup 2006 game, which carries a £3 million prize and is the biggest prize ever offered in the history of the football pools.
• 2006 Sale of Bet Direct, one of management's strategic objectives in restructuring and repositioning Sportech, to provide a firm foundation for future growth.
• 2006 Steven Cunliffe appointed as Finance Director and Company Secretary.