Accelerated Consolidation Result Of Ban?

Published: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

ACCELERATED CONSOLIDATION COULD BE A CONSEQUENCE OF ONLINE GAMBLING BAN

Top execs warn that US crackdown could accelerate consolidation

British newspapers have reported that the heads of two of the UK's biggest online gambling firms have warned that the industry faces consolidation in the wake of the U.S. crackdown on Internet gaming.

Mitch Garber, chief executive of PartyGaming Plc. told the Financial Times that his firm was interested in buying companies impacted by new U.S. legislation to end online gaming in the country, which was passed by Congress at the weekend.

"We are very focused on mergers and acquisitions. I see our liquidity as being very attractive to smaller [company] players who may not be able to survive on their own," Garber said. He also forecast that the pace of consolidation would get faster, with US land giants like MGM and Harrah's likely to enter the stage.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have an interest in winning non US-facing companies as a means of dipping their toes in the Internet water," Garber said in an interview.

Gigi Levy, who takes over as head of 888 Holdings Plc from industry veteran John Anderson this year, said he thought consolidation would start off between online operators. The move would be followed by takeovers by large onshore operators from both the United States and Britain, he opinioned.