Playtech IPO at $460 million

Playtech online casino software provider has gone public this week with a $460 million IPO out of the company's estimated value of $960 million. Playtech's move means that 46 percent of the company is now available for purchase by the public. Teddy Sagy, owner of Playtech, is following other big gambling companies with this IPO. Last year several companies part of the Empire Online and the 888 network of online casinos have issued stocks for the public registering at a value of $1 billion each. Playtech is one of the biggest and most advanced software providers for online casino sites and this week's event is a huge step forward.

Playtech was establish back in 1999 and quickly made its way in the online gambling software industry. The company's highly rated online casino software is currently in use by a large scale of the major online casinos. The online casino market has grown immensely in the past few years and it has been stated to have a business cycle of $12 billion last year. Playtech casino software provider finished last year's cycle at a whopping $48 million profit, almost four times the profit the company has made at the end of 2003.

Life was not always sweet for Playtech and the casino software developer had a rough start. Being issued at the Tel Aviv stock market did not make the effect Playtech was hoping for and the numbers didn't look promising. Nevertheless owner Teddy Sagy didn't give up and gave the company a director's lown of 1 million dollars. Sagy understood the big changes that were going to happen in the online casino world and knew his little casino software company will be a huge part of those changes. Today the picture seems much better, and Playtech is currently hiring 250 people worldwide supplying the online casino world with state of the art casino software and virtual games.

----

Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published March 23, 2006 8:31 am ET