NLOP-PowerPlay Offers Good Poker Potential

Published: Friday, October 27, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

NLOP TAKEOVER OF POWER PLAY OFFERS GOOD POKER POTENTIAL

NLOP has a workaround on US financial bans: 35 000 sign-ups in the last sixty days

The National League of Poker (NLOP) expects its legal online poker business to grow as a result of the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the company claims in a reverse merger announcement this week. As a result of the merger NLOP has attained publicly listed status on the OTC exchange.

NLOP took over the operations of Power Play Development Corp., a public company based in Nevada that traded on the over-the-counter pink sheets under the ticker symbol "PWPY," saving itself IPO cash by reversing into the dormant Power Play Development shell.

The merged companies will be headed by Michale Clebnik, who became chief operating officer of Power Play Development.

NLOP.com and PokerCreations.com, will be considered a subsidiaries of Power Play, Clebnik said. The company is banking on building up its membership in the wake of the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act," which outlaws money transfers to and from online gambling sites, but does not ban online sweepstakes and contest sites.

The National League of Poker site does not take bets and its game winners receive cash prizes.

Before the law, the online gambling industry was generating $12 billion in revenue a year, with half of it coming from an estimated 10 million American gamblers. Many of those poker players may now be looking for somewhere else to play, Clebnik said.

NLOP makes its money through online advertising deals and promotions, he said, and revenue would grow with a bigger membership and the higher number of "eyeballs" - or page views - that comes with it.

Since September 1, NLOP.com has added more than 35 000 poker players. "We're aiming to grow that database by hundreds of thousands in a very short period of months," Clebnik said.

PokerCreations is the company's private-label online poker promotions arm, which provides a software engine so customers can run tournaments. The company's latest promotion is for Milwaukee's Best Light at www.milbestlight.com. Each week, one poker player wins a $10,000 spot at the World Series of Poker tournament.