Sportingbet Moves to the Official List on the London Exchange

The worst thing to happen to online gambling operators in recent years was the invoked prohibition of the activity in the USA. During the big crack down companies that had been doing very well on the European stock exchanges were shredded by the stroke of a pen. Sportingbet was one such firm whose shares were decimated with the new rules banning online sports betting by offshore companies in the USA. The companies share price was at little over 20p less than two years ago, and it rose 2¼p on Thursday to 76¼p, giving it a market capitalisation of £381m or $590m. This kind of rebounding growth is truly remarkable. To expand even further into a bigger financial realm Sportingbet has decided to leave the AIM market and join the main London exchange. Analysts agree that Sportingbet will do very well by going for the larger exchange, allowing the strength of the firm to be confirmed with a higher investment profile as well as the increased liquidity of it's shares. Sportingbet said that the move to the London's Main exchange was “the most appropriate platform for the continued growth of the group”. After two thirds of it's assets disappeared when America banned online gambling the company quickly restructured to get back on it's feet with the goal of reclaiming a large portion of the rapidly expanding sports betting industry in Europe. Sportingbet now gets ninety percent of it's business from Europe and was able to re-establish dividend payments last October to it's share holders. Acceptance by the Official List on the London Stock Exchange is slated for May 14, 2010, just in time for the World Cup of soccer in South Africa in June. The strength of the company will continue to grow as the public in Europe continues to enjoy betting on sports.