Ladbrokes raises the stakes for the Martell Grand National with VeCommerce's VeBET solution

VeCommerce Limited (ASX:VCM)has announced that Ladbrokes, the betting and gaming arm of Hilton Group plc and largest bookmaker in the world, has launched the second phase of its VeBet®-based voice enabled wagering system.

VeCommerce Limited (ASX:VCM), a global leader in the provision of natural language speech recognition (NLSR), speaker verification and voice enabled e-commerce solutions, has announced that Ladbrokes, the betting and gaming arm of Hilton Group plc and largest bookmaker in the world, has launched the second phase of its VeBet®-based voice enabled wagering system.

First utilised in May 2002 for the FIFA World Cup, Ladbrokes added support for horse and greyhound racing on 1 April 2003, in time for the start of the 2003 UK horse racing season and particularly the nations favourite race, the Martell Cognac Grand National.

Using the latest in communications and speech recognition technology, the system allows callers to place their bets on horse and greyhound racing without queuing for an operator to take their call or struggling with push button technology - which is vitally important when a caller has that all important 'winner.

The new system supports over 11 different bet types ranging from the ever popular 'win and 'each-way bets through to more exotic bet types such as 'Tricasts, 'Yankees, a 'Lucky 15 or even a 'Trixie. Ladbrokes callers say their bet in a way that is familiar to them, just as they would to a Ladbrokes operator. For example, callers placing an each-way bet would simply say, ₤10 each-way on Montys Pass".

Paul Magee, VeCommerce Managing Director said, We are very pleased that Ladbrokes has launched this second phase of VeBet, as they continue to lead the acceptance and awareness of voice enabled self-service solutions within the UK."

Around the world we have seen dramatic increases in customer satisfaction and service levels that stem from deploying voice enabled solutions," Magee continued. Businesses win too, as the cost of each customer transaction can be reduced by as much as 90%. This cost saving flows directly to their bottom line, and in this period of economic uncertainty, any cost savings are to be welcomed!"

In recent years, Ladbrokes has experienced significant growth in all of its activities and has implemented VeBet as part of a long-term strategy to meet the increasing demands on their contact centre. Designed to handle the large yet unpredictable volume of calls generated by their account holders, VeBet offers Ladbrokes an efficient, user friendly and cost effective automated self-service channel.

With the VeBet system, VeCommerce assisted Ladbrokes in servicing over 100,000 calls on the Grand National day alone, a 43 per cent increase from last year, by working in conjunction with their call centre operators and an existing push-button application.

Ladbrokes are not alone in choosing the VeBet system. Leading wagering organisations throughout the world are already providing increased levels of customer self-service and satisfaction with VeBet. With over 15 million bets taken successfully to date, VeBet has a proven ability to support the large number of runners registered within the UK, easily able to handle volumes of over 180,000 calls on big race days.

-ENDS -

About Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes, the betting and gaming division of Hilton Group plc, is the world's biggest bookmaker. It provides its customers with a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week service via over 2000 licensed betting shops in the UK, Ireland and Belgium, state of the art call centres in London and Liverpool and its interactive services. Over 300,000 registered customers from 160 countries bet on the Internet with Ladbrokes at www.ladbrokes.com and at the online casino www.ladbrokescasino.com.
About VeCommerce -- the future is hear®
VeCommerce Limited (ASX:VCM), is a global leader in the provision of natural language speech recognition (NLSR), speaker verification and voice enabled e-commerce solutions. VeCommerces core focus is to provide tailored business solutions, using the latest in communications and speech technologies, that allow callers to complete complicated but 'routine transactions or inquiries without the need to struggle with frustrating 'push button menus or having to wait for an available operator to answer their call.
VeCommerce can voice enable an organisations business systems and processes providing secure, easy to use and consistently available self-service facilities allowing customers to simply speak in a natural conversational tone over any telephone, significantly reducing the cost of each transaction.
VeCommerce clients around the world include: Suncorp Metway, Ladbrokes, ASX Perpetual, Pizza Hut, Motor Accidents Authority, Magna Entertainment, Auckland Co-op Taxis, the Ministry of Social Development (NZ) and 5 out of 6 TABs Australia wide. Visit www.vecommerce.com for further information.

Media enquiries
Paul Magee, Managing Director, VeCommerce Limited, tel: +61 2 9428 9555
email: paul.magee@vecommerce.com.au; or

Nick Flude, Marketing Manager, VeCommerce Limited, tel: +61 2 9428 9903
email: nick.flude@vecommerce.com.au; or

Dolores Diez, Rivers of Communication, tel: +61 3 9572 4552 / 0417 330 881
email: dolores@riversofcom.com