Fantasy Sports A New "In" For 888 In U.S.
Published: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
FANTASY SPORTS A NEW 'IN' FOR 888 IN THE STATES?
Top tier online gambling group looks for new ways to stay in the US market
The new US legislative measures against online gambling have triggered a wave of fresh strategy thinking in companies active in the sector, and one of these, 888 Holdings already sees an opportunity in the fantasy games carve-outs in the new law.
Speaking to the UK financial publication "This is Money" this week, 888's chief operating officer Gigi Levy revealed that his company plans to transform its US division from possibly illegal online gambling to one of legal entertainment once the new legislation comes into force.
It's a critical move, because Levy says the ban on financial transactions in the legislation has the potential to set the company's performance back to its level in mid-2004.
Levy, who steps up from his role as chief operating officer to become CEO at the end of the year, remarks that 888's core capability is not gambling per se, but bringing people to its website and delivering customer service and appealing product.
"This (ban) put us at a critical junction, where we had to ask what 888 was,' he told the reporter. "We are an online entertainment company. We'll take those capabilities to other products and we see fantasy sports as a possibility."
The group, which generated 52 percent of its first-half revenues in the US, said on Monday it was suspending its gambling business there and its full-year results would suffer as a consequence. 888 has said it will continue building its business in Europe and Asia Pacific to help offset the impact.
"The starting point will be lower, but the growth rates will continue to be high," said Levy, pointing to year-on-year revenue growth of 42 percent outside the United States in the first half, compared with US growth of 24 percent.
Levy said he expected the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to take a look at the US ban, but he saw no quick solution.
"The last three weeks were very good and the last three days were surprisingly some of the best ever,' Levy said when asked about 888's trading. "Maybe it's the fact that our name has been in nearly every newspaper in the world and people have been checking us out."
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