Empire Online Posts Results
Published: Friday, August 05, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
EMPIRE ONLINE POSTS RESULTS
More poker players, tripled profits
Recently listed Empire Online Ltd., an online marketer that directs users to
Web sites such as Party Poker, released good first-half results last week, revealing
that profit almost tripled.
Net income jumped to $21.2 million from $8.6 million a year ago as gaming sales
advanced to $42 million from $17.3 million, the Tortola, British Virgin Islands-based
company said in a statement.
The number of active players - those who played for real money in the last 90
days, according to Empire Online - rose to 126,507 from 51,367.
The companys shares have risen 32 percent since it sold stock in an IPO last
month, and is likely to perform well as the size of the online poker market
continues to increase - from $90 million in 2002 to $1 billion in 2004, according
to Christensen Capital Advisors.
At the end of July, Empire Online had a market value of almost GBP 680 million
and last week the company started spending some of its windfall with the acquisitions
of the Club Dice and Noble Poker gaming platforms for $40 million (see earlier
InfoPowa bulletins).
Empire's statement revealed that it has plans for an online, multiplayer backgammon
site, too. The ancient game is enjoying a significant renaissance on the Internet,
and Empire is working on the launch of its in-house 65.com site later this year.
“When we looked at Backgammon we looked at the providers in the industry
and decided the best option was to do it ourselves,” said a company spokesman.
And he said Empire would continue to be acquisitive, although he discounted
buying a sportsbook in the near future. “I don’t think we would rush
into sports betting in the short term, and I’m not sure we are entirely
taken with skill gaming."
