Online Poker Revenues Up For Sportingbet
Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
ONLINE POKER REVENUES UP FOR SPORTINGBET
3.9 million players placed GBP 290 million in bets and player 339 million poker
games
A buoyant Sportingbet, Britain's second-biggest online gaming group, reported
a 72 percent increase in second quarter pretax profit this week and said poker
commission rose 107 percent.
Second quarter pretax profit was GBP 27 million in the three months to January
31, said Sportingbet, which owns the Paradise Poker and Sportsbook
websites.
CEO Nigel Payne said the group's "shared purse" technology, which
allows players to switch easily between games, was bearing fruit, with over 23,000
of its U.S. sports betting customers playing poker in the second quarter, up 30
percent on the first quarter.
"We now have over 3.9 million registered customers, who placed 290 million
sports and gaming bets in the first half of this year and played 339 million games
of poker," said Payne.
"Should the current level of strong performance continue throughout the second
half of the year, then the board intends to re-invest any such excess in furthering
the organic growth of the business," Payne revealed.
Based on current shareprice, the group is valued at about GBP 1.7 billion.
