Sport is made for betting

Not got as much time on my hands at the moment, so I'll try to keep the site fresh with a weekly update as a minimum... Betfair shares break back through the £10 mark as their financial trading arm LMAX flounders . The newly-recruited CEO has gone after just three months; sounds like either a major difference of opinions or a long walk off a short pier. Also leaving is 'Chief Products and Services Officer' Matthias Entenmann. Considering the service these days is the most criticised part of the business from customers and the major shareholders will be looking for scapegoats, my guess is his share options had matured and he decided to jump before he was pushed. The quest for licensing in Europe continues, and is messy as always. Greece started off with a ridiculous 6% turnover levy and have now switched to 30% GPT, which won't be too popular either, but at least it's manageable in a jurisdiction switching from monopolistic margins. The Greek government has also...

The market seems to think that they got off lightly with a $33m settlement, they are up 12.86% already today. Sportingbet agrees $33m US settlement LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. online gambling group Sportingbet (UK:SBT 77.75, +7.75, +11.07%) said Tuesday that it has entered a non-prosecution agreement with the Office of the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York under which it will pay a total of $33 million. Sportingbet said that under the terms of the agreement, the Southern District of New York will not seek to prosecute the company for activities related to its Internet gambling business with customers in the U.S. from 1998 to 2006. Considering the length of time the companies operated by Sportingbet were in that market, it seems like quite a light penalty in comparison with Party Gaming who agreed a $105m deal in 2009 , although it could be argued that poker was booming at the time, and Sportingbet didn't own all of the companies breaking US law fo...

Sportingbet started the trend by purchasing No1 Betting Shop from Vanuatu and then moving them to Darwin, Paddy Power got into the act by snapping up Sportsbet and IAS, and then Centrebet started preening their feathers in public trying to woo as many prospective buyers as they could. Anecdotal evidence suggests that several other Australian firms are available to buy, as most of the original owners are approaching retirement age. BWin, William Hill, Ladbrokes, 888 and others were mentioned as prospective suitors for Centrebet but it all seems to have gone very quiet lately. BWin have tied up with Party Gaming which should keep them busy plus neither are shy about attracting Australian customers despite laws against online casino and poker operations; William Hill's online division is 29% owned by Playtech, another company with fingers in many bingo, casino and poker pies which reach Australia either organically or by targetted marketing; Ladbrokes are still involved in the bid f...

Europe's biggest and richest market, Germany, looks set for deregulation after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) yesterday ruled that "German rules do not limit games of choice in a consistent and systematic manner". The court stressed that "the holders of public monopolies carry out intensive advertising campaigns with a view to maximise profit from lotteries thereby departing from the objectives justifying the existence of those monopolies." Germany was a messy legal and regulatory system in relation to online gambling, as provincial governments held different attitudes toward the industry. Some licences existed in the days of East and West Germany, which the unified nation refused to recognise but the licenceholders (or those who had bought into them from outside Germany) were prepared to take them to court. Real Madrid and AC Milan had recently been either fined or forced to wear alternative strips to avoid prosecution from local authorities. Now it...

Shares in the two firms jumped at least 20% yesterday with the long-awaited announcement of the merger. Party Gaming, bwin Plan Gambling Merger PartyGaming PLC plans to merge with Austrian sports-book operator Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, creating the world's largest listed online-gambling business. The new company will be owned 48.36% and 51.64% by PartyGaming and Bwin shareholders respectively and will be listed on the London Stock Exchange. It would have a combined net gambling revenue of €682 million ($885.6 million) and combined earnings before interest, taxes and amortization of €196 million, PartyGaming said. Shares in PartyGaming jumped 20% Thursday, valuing the company at £1.26 billion ($1.96 billion), while Bwin shares soared 25% on the Vienna Stock Exchange, valuing the company at €1.58 billion. Jim Ryan, Chief Executive of PartyGaming, and Norbert Teufelberger, co-CEO of Bwin, will run the merged group as co-chief executives. Mr. Teufelberger said his co-...

After many months of speculation and discussion between the two firms, it appears that a proposed merger between bwin and PartyGaming is off. This would have been a genuine super-merger, unseen before in the gambling industry, but reasonably common in other business sectors. bwin chief says Party Gaming merger talks failed bwin have long admitted to being keen on acquisition and mergers rather than natural growth, so expect more activity from them in the near future. The article even quotes the bwin boffins as chasing partners in the US. ---- Two minutes after I posted this article, through comes a report denying the original statement... Androsch refutes bwin/Party comments So who do we believe? Was that genuine or trying to protect the share price? Either way, it looks like things aren't progressing quickly.

Just a fortnight ago, I reported on Centrebet touting itself for a sale . Where there's smoke there's fire they say, and word is coming from good sources that the company is about to be swallowed up by the global giant Bwin. Expect both companies to keep tight-lipped about it until they have to release it to their respective shareholders and stockmarkets. PartyGaming had been sweet-talking Bwin for sometime about a merger, does this mean they will go back to chasing Ladbrokes again? Interesting times in the gambling world. You heard it here first.

Easy - settle with companies who have been making money out of US poker players for years! Party Gaming are first, what will happen for 888 and Sportingbet who are also in 'negotations'? It's Official: Party, Feds Do $105 Million Deal Ah, America. A land where everything can be fixed with a chequebook...