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Ireland’s largest betting firm, and one that is never shy about making outrageous headlines, has made it into the Guinness World Record Book by building the tallest poker chip stack. The towering stack contains 75,000 individual poker chips and stands 3 meters tall, 50cm wide. It took over 72-hours to construct.
The poker chip stack tower was created as a means of generating publicity leading up to the Paddypowerpoker.com Irish Winter Festival 2010, which takes place in Dublin, Ireland on February 22.
Paddy Power said “We had our fair share of wobbles along the way and one complete collapse but we held our nerve and it was definitely worth it for the honour of a Guinness World Record. The giant stack is yet another reason to get down to the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for the Irish Winter Festival this weekend”
Paddy is well recognized for their various publicity stunts. These include:
The Towering Hollywood-Like Sign At This Year’s Ryder’s Cup - An injunction was brought against Paddy Power to remove a sign that stood 270 feet across and appeared on a mountainside in the tradition of the famous Hollywood, California sign.
“We are clearly the victims of bureaucratic bullies and rich golf course owners but we will respect the verdict of the court,” Paddy Power reps said in a statement. “I guess it's a textbook case of - we fought the law and the law won.”
Ryder Cup officials denounced the stunt, saying such a sign took away attention from its paying sponsors.
The Paddy Power Sin Bin - Paddy Power teamed up with top jockey Frankie Dettori to unveil the innovative sponsorship in Our Lady with St. Etheldreda Church in Newmarket ahead of the Guineas Festival, none other than a confessional (or “sin bin”) so that punters could cleanse away their sins prior to placing bets on the festival.
The sponsorship, which was valued at £10,000, was the brainchild of Paddy Power and Newmarket Parish Priest Father Michael Griffin with the sponsorship money helping to finance the reordering of the church. The reordering has been planned for a number of years with finance proving a major a hurdle.
Gambling911.com never heard back from the Vatican to see if they approved.
Obama Assassination Odds – One of the most controversial offerings from the company came in the form of odds related to the assassination of then newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama. After much public outcry, the firm removed such odds. Gambling911.com also denounced such an offering.
Little People Exploitation – Paddy Power – not surprisingly – was among the first companies to be lambasted by the newly formed Advertising Standards Authority – after it featured an ad showing little people in degrading situations with a vitriol caption to boot.
" . . . a dwarf in a limousine flanked by two beautiful women, smoking a cigar and holding up a champagne glass. A strapline accompanying the advert said: 'Who says you can't make money being short?' " – Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com reporting.
