Empire Online Has An Big Acquisition Cache

Published: Thursday, April 27, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

EMPIRE ONLINE HAS AN ACQUISITION CACHE OF $259 MILLION

First quarter revenues dip, but plenty of cash in the bank for Israeli group, and casino revenues triple

The sale to Party Gaming of Empire Poker may have slowed down revenues in the first quarter, but it has provided the Israeli Internet gambling group Empire Online with an extremely healthy bank balance...and they're out looking for acquisitions according to its latest trading report.

The group reported a slight decline in first quarter gaming revenues this week, but said it now had up to $259 million (GBP 145 million) available for acquisitions.

Total first-quarter net gaming revenue was $21.1 million, compared to $22.5 million in the preceding quarter and $24.4 million a year ago.

Casino revenues nearly tripled year-on-year to $15.3 million, but poker revenues fell by 69 percent to $5.8 million, following the $250 million sale of Empire Poker to industry leader PartyGaming in February.

Empire said it now had $259 million of cash on its balance sheet at the end of the first quarter.

"The company now has the financial strength to diversify both its product and geographical exposure outside of the USA through value enhancing acquisitions," it said in a statement. "Empire Online is actively seeking to acquire complementary gaming businesses in such areas as sports betting, skill-based gaming and soft-gaming niches such as bingo," it added.

The company has not given up on poker - it runs the successful Noble Poker operation and a spokesman said: "In addition, the company is exploring further poker and casino acquisitions."