888 Holdings, Pacific Poker Sales Rise 12%
Neil Craven of Bloomberg Business reports that 888 Holdings Plc, once the largest online casino firm, said fourth-quarter sales from countries outside the U.S. rose 12 percent as revenue from Internet poker climbed.
The company claims that sales have climbed to $40 mil with poker revenue up 26% to $18 mil, but all is not rosey for the firm that is being eyed as a takeover target by UK-based bookmaker powerhouse Ladbrokes.
Total net gaming revenue declined 39 percent to $47 million after 888 was cut off from the U.S., its main market, in October.
Bloomberg points out that "the company, whose brands include Pacific Poker, lost just over half its sales and cut 25 percent of its workforce after halting U.S. operations when laws were passed to shut down Internet gambling in the country. The measure sparked an industrywide scramble to replace lost revenue, prompting 888 to say at the end of October it had held talks with more than one suitor that might lead to a bid."
``We really think there has been a good pick up since October,'' said Chief Executive Officer Gigi Levy in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. The ``fears that people had'' about ongoing costs and recruitment of new players following the closure of the U.S. have largely not materialized, Levy said.
Shares of 888 rose as much as 4.5 pence, or 4.1 percent, to 114 pence today in London and were 113 pence at 8:52 a.m. local time. They have dropped 21 percent since Sept. 29, the last day of trading before the U.S. law was passed.
----
Gambling911.com News Wire
Originally published February 14, 2007 10:17 pm ET
