Online TECH, Gaming, & Gambling Thread

[drbubb]

Online Gaming, TECH,  & Gambling Thread

(note: Have added DHX/ DHI Group, an online Tech recruiter to this thread)

FOUR Gaming ETFs: ESPO, BJK, NERD, HERO

ESPO-etc. 5yr: 2yr: 1yr: 6mo: 10d / from Jan.2015/ ESPO: $39.68, BJK: $39.98 @ 1.28.2020

: 6mo: 10d / from Jan.2015/ ESPO: $39.68, BJK: $39.98 @ 1.28.2020

Symb. ETF name— : $-Last : PER : Yield- : vol.   / BkVal.: MktCap: xB.V.
ESPO: VG&Esports : $39.68: 27.2: 0.21%: 27.3k/ $38.97: $51.0M:  r4.34 :
BJK - : Gaming etf- : $39.96: -n/a-: 3.08%: 9.61k/
NERD: Digital Enter.: $15.98: -n/a-: 0.31%: 5.23k/
HERO: Gl.X Vid.Gm.: $17.11: -n/a-: 0.32%: 4.80k/
=====

ESPO/ Top 10 Holdings (60.61% of Total Assets)

Get Quotes for Top Holdings

Name	Symbol	% Assets
Tencent Holdings Ltd	00700	8.47%
NVIDIA Corp	NVDA	8.29%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc	AMD	7.79%
Activision Blizzard Inc	ATVI	6.04%
Nintendo Co Ltd	7974	5.89%
Electronic Arts Inc	EA	5.48%
CD Projekt SA	CDR	4.80%
NetEase Inc ADR	NTES	4.73%
Sea Ltd ADR	SE.TW	4.71%
NCsoft Corp	036570.KS	4.41%

(The Original Thread focused on UK-quoted companies:)

When I was in Shanghai, i met a software programmer who worked for an online gaming company. He was one of 500 people working for a French company, that was spending $20 million on the development of a complex, and highly graphic computer game. Total development time was planned for two years. He was Australian, and was brought there by his employer to Shanghai to be one of the "creative lights" on the design team.

An interesting part of our conversation was about the changing nature of the games business. Apparently, the UK was once a hotspot of game design (Oh, for the early days of Laura Croft!), but in the UK costs got out of hand. It became to expensive to compete with designers elsewhere. The business moved to Australia, and now more recently, development is moving on to Shanghai, China.

To fill the gap in the UK, many of the Tech entrepreneurs turned to online gambling. Poker became particularly popular, along with Sports Betting. It is now a rather huge industry. Some companies have floated for huge valuations.

List of Companies to Follow

BetInternet.com (BET.L) : fr. Jan.2015:

Bet-on-Sports (BSS.L) : fr. Jan. 2015 :

Partygaming (PRTY.L) : fr. Jan. 2015 : > Sold to GVC Holdings

Netteller.      (???) > Parent: PaySafe Group (private)

SportingBet (???) > Owner‎: ‎GVC Holdings plc / William Hill

World Poker Store Inc OTHER OTC WPKS

Poker Tv Networks Inc OTHER OTC PKTV

Personally, i have never considered investing. The sector has long seemed hugely-hyped, and I noticed that many of the insiders were selling out, cashing in on the public's keen interest. This is the usual behaviour at/near the peak of a bubble- so I have stayed away. Prices are now coming down on these stocks, and it may not be long before good arguments can be made in favor of their investment merits.

There remains the issue of ethics. Is it ethical to make money on gambling?

The activity is illiegal in some countries, but many people enjoy it as a form of entertainment. Properly managed, gambling can be fun, even when you lose a bit. And some folks claim to make money on it. If enough people play, the online providers of the game can make money, even if they take only a small share of the wagers. In fact, their spreads can be less than Vegas, Monte Carlo, or other established gambling hotspots. So maybe they are the low cost providers of this important form of entertainment.

In GEI's spirit of openness, let's discuss the Online Gambling business

[godsakes]

There's alot of uncertainty with regards to the legal side of things in the online gambling sector.

 

The US hasn't really got a coherent policy on gambling - bare in mind landbased gambling is illegal in most states (Indian casinos an exception). So far their attempts have been targeted to towards restricting financial firms i.e. credit card companies from dealing with transactions to the gambling companies. Some years back PayPal stopped accepting customer deposits to online gambling firms. That's one reason why some e-wallet firms have done very well from this sector namely Neteller.

 

On the federal level, the laws which have been cited in restrictions on gambling include the wire transfer act which was really intended to restrict mafia activities. I believe the WTO ruled against the US in using the law against offshore gaming firms.

 

However there has been recent attempts to introduce a bill to ban online gambling outright - which could take the form of ISP filtering (sounds like google china to me). I understand this bill has not been successful yet.

 

Perhaps more worryingly the state of Washington has just passed a law to make it an offence to promote online gambling - I know someone who runs a gambling info site based in Washington who's seriously considering moving to Canada to avoid the potential fallout.

 

In the UK it's finally legal to run an online gambling firm based here, all very well but why would an online gambling firm want to give up the tax advantages of being based offshore? in addition far from the Daily Mail talk of gambling taking over the country the new law restricts advertising copy so highly they might as well have banned gambling advertising all together.

 

In a lot of European countries online gambling (advertising and firms) is illegal - not for the moral reasons but because the state wants to keep their monopoly on the gambling market - I understand Ladbrokes won a

court ruling against one country as it breached EU competition rules so hopefully the situation will improve.

[needle]

Again, I have some experience in this.

Security of transactions is key here (esp on mobile devices).

 

People love to play but monetising is extremely difficult.

 

This is a lot more complicated than you think and whoever enters a market first is usually a pathfinder - they die from their wounds - and another pathfinder takes over.....only for them too to bleed money.

 

I've worked in some of the biggest electronic gaming (gambling) companies in the UK - times are hard. The technology is easily replicated and there is a rush to merge at the moment to hide growing losses.

Also there are few rights - nobody "owns" Poker or Blackjack....

 

Gambling on gaming is a risky business.

[No6]

There remains the issue of ethics. Is it ethical to make money on gambling? The activity is illiegal in some countries, but many people enjoy it as a form of entertainment. Properly managed, gambling can be fun, even when you lose a bit. And some folks claim to make money on it. If enough people play, the online providers of the game can make money, even if they take only a small share of the wagers. In fact, their spreads can be less than Vegas, Monte Carlo, or other established gambling hotspots. So maybe they are the low cost providers of this important form of entertainment.

 

In GEI's spirit of openness, let's discuss the Online Gambling business

 

Now, this one opens a can of worms. In every form of gambling there are pros who make money, but most will lose. And of course, many consider the stock markets, especially trading as nothing more than a form of gambling, or to give it a more appropriate name, speculation. The stock markets have been described as a casino, especially when it comes to short term trading and just like gambling on horses or other forms of betting the losers make up the majority. If you look at the reasons why the majority lose, whether it's trading markets or horse racing, etc, the reasons are very similar.

 

Is it unethical to make money from people's addiction to gambling? Well, is it unethical to make money from say investing in water (considering that many people across the world die from the lack of it), uranium (the nuclear issue)or many other companies or sectors? And what about Gold? Many people are investing in it because it is probably the best hedge against bad news, like war and people being killed. In fact, to a large degree right now it relys on bad news to go up. When you think about it, there are lots of things that you could put the unethical tag on.

 

Do I bet? The answer would be no when it comes to traditional betting, but I am bullish on many of the more traditional companies in this sector like William Hill and I have bought their shares in the past. Like any share or sector it is important to get to know how they work and in following them I've noticed certain trends in the way their price reacts to events. However, I'm not that keen on the on-line gaming companies.

 

As the saying goes, gambling is a mugs game, unless you happen to be one of the lucky few who have figured out a way to approach it like a pro, do your homework and find a system that works. That's the same for the financial markets or any other form of speculation.

[drbubb]

"is it unethical to make money from say investing in water (considering that many people across the world die from the lack of it), uranium (the nuclear issue)or many other companies or sectors? And what about Gold? Many people are investing in it because it is probably the best hedge against bad news, like war and people being killed. In fact, to a large degree right now it relys on bad news to go up."

 

INTERESTING comparison with water and commodities.

But Not fully valid IMHO. Here's why I say that:

If you invest in a mining or exploration company, then you investment is helping to find or mine more gold- thus, it helps add to supply. That is especially true when you invest through a private placemnt, but also through purchases in the secondary market because your investment helps to give liquidity tp those who invested in the PP, and thus helps to encourage find and mining gold ort other commodities.

 

There is no such addition to resources coming from an investment in an online gaming company.

 

= =

 

In answer to: Have you gambled online?

Someone has answered: Yes- Frequentlly, and I make money at it

 

Can you share some of your secrets??

[No6]

INTERESTING comparison with water and commodities.

But Not fully valid IMHO. Here's why I say that:

If you invest in a mining or exploration company, then you investment is helping to find or mine more gold- thus, it helps add to supply. That is especially true when you invest through a private placemnt, but also through purchases in the secondary market because your investment helps to give liquidity tp those who invested in the PP, and thus helps to encourage find and mining gold ort other commodities.

 

There is no such addition to resources coming from an investment in an online gaming company.

 

 

I wouldn't disagree with this. I was talking in very general terms about the question of ethics as there are some people who do not really care about what value a company may bring. If it is deemed unethical, they wouldn't invest in it, and on the political fringes will do everything they can to shut it down. We could add to the debate tobacco and some pharmaceuticals/bio-tech companies (animal experiments).

[Nijo]

In answer to: Have you gambled online?

Someone has answered: Yes- Frequentlly, and I make money at it

 

Can you share some of your secrets??

 

I also answered this. I'm often probing new possibilities, each with different success rates.

[Note that I don't have an addictive streak, so I approach all this in a cold calculating manner ]

 

Blackjack - you can't card count online as they shuffle every deal (grrr), but you can take advantage of introductory offers and what I believe is a 'beginners luck' phase where they tweak the cards in your favour to get you hooked. You have to play perfect odds, obviously.

 

Poker - I found this really hard and too easily corrupted. You have to know the perfect plays in an instant, but you'll never be faster than a poker bot. Avoid.

 

Sports Gambling - make use of arbitrage opportunities by comparing different sites. The bet market is far less fluid than the stock market. I get bored of this though.

 

Financial Gambling - by this I mean betting on the close value of the FTSE 100. Volatility is your friend, allowing you to cover each position as you go. Requires lots of attention.

 

Spreadbetting - I guess this doesn't really count. I use spreadbets to short the long positions I hold elsewhere, e.g the price of gold, saving me the trouble of selling.

 

Games - I used to play worldwinner.com, where I could make decent money playing whack-a-mole (ahem), which it turned out I was pretty good at. There was one guy in Canada that could beat me but otherwise I was up there. They don't offer whack-a-mole any more.

 

 

Of all these I've made most money playing Blackjack, BUT you do have to play very mechanically.

[No6]

Games - I used to play worldwinner.com, where I could make decent money playing whack-a-mole (ahem), which it turned out I was pretty good at. There was one guy in Canada that could beat me but otherwise I was up there. They don't offer whack-a-mole any more.

 

 

That's typical. Just when you have found your vocation in life they take it away from you. You could have been a contender.

[bonobo]

Of all these I've made most money playing Blackjack, BUT you do have to play very mechanically.

 

same here...using the introductory and monthly offers. Up about 13k now, and tend to stick to a regular half dozen or so offers each month to bring in an extra 2-300 quid.

 

Easy money but very monotonous.

[godsakes]

Again, I have some experience in this.

Security of transactions is key here (esp on mobile devices).

 

People love to play but monetising is extremely difficult.

 

This is a lot more complicated than you think and whoever enters a market first is usually a pathfinder - they die from their wounds - and another pathfinder takes over.....only for them too to bleed money.

 

I've worked in some of the biggest electronic gaming (gambling) companies in the UK - times are hard. The technology is easily replicated and there is a rush to merge at the moment to hide growing losses.

Also there are few rights - nobody "owns" Poker or Blackjack....

 

Gambling on gaming is a risky business.

 

Really firms are either going to be foused on the marketing side or the product side - A lot of these new channels can only be taken up by some of the major bookies - purely because they have huge existing player databases and can cross sell - essentially it's all about economies of scale enabling them to aquire players at a profitable price (easier said than done).

 

on the other side of the business are the software firms who realistically can't compete in terms of customer aquistion with these established firms so their best strategy is to license their software and earn money from fees and revenue share deals. Online bingo was neglected by many software firms such as crypotologic and microgaming who rule the casino side - online bingo looks set to be the next big thing after poker (in the UK there are special rules governing bingo which means it doesn't suffer as many legal restrictions).

[jonpo]

made quite a sum on GVC.L it was supendously undervalued at 86pence for the June 07

[drbubb]

About Gaming Corporation plc

http://www.gamingcorp.net

 

 

Gaming Corporation is an interactive gaming business which operates the UK's leading gaming portal casino.co.uk. During 2003 the Company expanded its gaming operations with the launch of its own state of the art online casino, play.casino.co.uk and poker network, poker.casino.co.uk.

 

= = =

 

Acquisition of Eyeconomy Ltd

The Board of Gaming Corporation plc (“Gaming Corp” or “the Company”), the owner the UK’s number 1 casino portal www.casino.co.uk, announces the acquisition of Eyeconomy Limited (“Eyeconomy”), the operating division of Eyeconomy Holdings plc, an OFEX listed company.

 

The acquisition provides Gaming Corp with an experienced online marketing team and best-in-class systems. Eyeconomy has a successful and profitable track record and will significantly enhance Gaming Corp’s revenues and on-line casino operations. Eyeconomy has been at the forefront of online advertising since1996; Eyeconomy provides strategic marketing services including online media planning and buying and manages online media campaigns for a number of gaming and internet companies including Betfair, EBay and Multimap. In the year to 31st December 2003 Eyeconomy reported turnover of over £1.4 Million an operating profit of £0.2 Million and generated net cash inflows of £0.35 Million and had net assets £0.09 Million. The consideration for the acquisition is £0.6 million satisfied through the issue of 20,000,000 New Ordinary Shares in Gaming Corp issued at 3p a share and through the payment of an inter-company loan of £0.14 Million owed by Eyeconomy to Eyeconomy Holdings plc.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Justin Drummond, Chief Executive of Gaming Corporation plc, said,

“This is a strategic acquisition which substantially bolsters our marketing infrastructure. The objective of the acquisition is simple - to drive traffic to our gaming assets. That is what Eyeconomy will do, and in a cost-efficient manner. It has a proven and highly successful track record at delivering web traffic and its clients include some very well known Internet brands and on-line gaming companies. The acquisition also gives the Company the added benefit of Eyeconomy’s profits and cash assets which strengthen Gaming Corp’s increasingly solid financial position”.

 

Paul Mcgroary, Chairman of Eyeconomy Holdings plc, said,

“During the past three years Eyeconomy has been a fast growing, profitable and very exciting business. Merging the online advertising and marketing expertise with Gaming Corp’s online assets will be a winning combination”.

 

 

@: http://www.mediacorpplc.com/press/default....2004&id=185

[drbubb]

Bouncing back...

 

PARTYGAMING OR. 36.75 +8.09% 12:57

[savo]

I'm not sure i'd personally invest in these companies at present, as party have demonstrated, they seem very susceptable to changing legislation. I guess that could actually in the long term work in a company such as party pokers favour. The govt recently seemed very keen to sell these companies the idea that rather then being based in the likes of costa rica, a base in England would be seen internationally as favourable........

As a former player I always enjoyed Party over every other site.....that's not to say i would invest in them though, the whole poker thing could just be fad, i'd now rather chew my own arm off than sit playing tables for a couple of hours.

[No6]

As a former player I always enjoyed Party over every other site.....that's not to say i would invest in them though, the whole poker thing could just be fad, i'd now rather chew my own arm off than sit playing tables for a couple of hours.

They could be a fad. The traditional bookies are a better bet IMHO. You may find some on-line gambling company where the share price takes off and your investment looks good, but then you get a PartyGaming. The old bookies are steady and even if there is an economic downturn, people (mostly men) will still want to have a bet. Perhaps even more so, as they will be hoping for that one big win. If you have to gamble, invest in the bookies.

[drbubb]

Weekly Wizards: Online Gaming Plays in China

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

By Weekly Wizards

 

 

Click here for StockHouse Conflicts and Disclosure Policy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q&A with David Riedel, China Investment Opportunities

 

Q: What do investors need to know about China?

 

A: China continues to offer some of the most compelling investment opportunities in the world. Obviously they have economic growth and demographics on their side. Those are all old stories. But what investors need to be thinking abut today is the performance of the Chinese domestic markets over the last year. Over the past five years the Chinese domestic markets underperformed, and were actually flat to down in four of the last five years. That all changed in 2006, when the domestic market Shenzhen was up 97% for the year and the Shanghai market was up 130%, among the fastest growing major markets in the world.

 

Q: What happened to change the performance of the Chinese domestic markets?

 

A: What happened was government changes in the regulations regarding the tradability of major state-owned organization. It's a little convoluted, but what happened was shares that were registered in the name of the government in major companies in China were allowed to be more liquid and allowed to trade. That dramatically increased the liquidity in the market and sent a signal to Chinese domestic investors that the government was supporting stock market investment and trying to make the stock market a more attractive place for people to park their money.

 

The result has been that the domestic market has really taken off. My analysts in Shanghai have reported that you can't turn around without getting a stock tip from a waiter or a taxi driver. Individual investors are reported to have opened an estimated 50,000 retail brokerage accounts a day during December. So clearly these people are showing up to the domestic markets in force.

 

Q: Is the market overheated?

 

A: Well, that certainly is a lot of growth to take place in a very short amount of time. Currently, the PE in Shanghai is 31times for the market, and Shenzhen is 32 times. Many of the companies that are listed domestically are not entirely proven in terms of their transparency and in terms of compliance with regulation and so forth. So I would be a little bit weary of that kind of blind optimism that is taking place in China today domestically.

 

In the China Investment Opportunities newsletter, we talk about Chinese stocks that are listed here in the United States - either directly listed, like Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU), or listed as ADRs (American Depository Receipts). These are much higher-quality companies than the ones we're talking about in Shanghai and Shenzhen. So when we talk investment opportunities in China, we're one step removed from this bubble that's developed in the Shanghai and the Shenzhen markets. That's not to say we're going to be completely immune. I think if we're expecting a 15-20% correction in the domestic markets, which would actually just be giving back what they've gained in 2007 year-to-date, that would have a knock-on effect on the valuations of some of these U.S.-listed China stories.

 

Q: How should investors respond to this trend?

 

A: I think what investors need to be thinking about in China today is what sectors they want to be exposed to, and then get to know these companies and buy into them when the opportunities present themselves. Some of the sectors we really like remain the technology sector; the consumer sector, which taps into that very strong demographic demand that we have; and the industrial sector.

 

Q: That's a wide swath.

 

A: Yes, but it leaves out some important things like financial services, and we are quite wary of the Chinese banks at this point. The government has shown a lot of stomach to recapitalize these banks, and obviously the international markets have taken a shine to both banks and insurance companies. We think there are still a lot of legacy problems in the financial services industry in China, and we don't think it's a good play on the continued growth there.

 

The reason we focus on technology is these are nascent business opportunities that are being implemented in China in a very accelerated way. Like the growth of the Internet in the U.S., which took a little bit longer in terms of people catching onto it and understanding what its attributes were and how it would work into their lives, in these developing economies like China those lessons learned in the developed world can be applied and you can have very rapid growth in these markets. Online gaming, for example, developed in South Korea, and now it is being applied to China in an accelerated fashion.

 

Q: What companies should investors keep an eye on?

 

A: I'll highlight two of the recent stories we've recently talked about in China Investment Opportunities, both of them in the tech sector. The first is CDC Corp. (NASDAQ: CHINA), commonly referred to as Chinadotcom. This company has a base business of providing enterprise software packages to small and mid-size companies. Off that base they have built a very aggressively growing online gaming business. Online gaming is a huge business in China, where you can have at any one time more than 1 million people online playing a particular video game. Often these are fantasy dungeons-and-dragons-type video games where people have characters moving through various challenges and accumulating points and power and wealth and so forth.

 

Massive multi-player online gaming is well known to investors through companies such as Netease.com (NASDAQ: NTES), listed here in the U.S., and also Shanda Interactive Entertainment (NASDAQ: SNDA), which we'll talk about in a second. But Chinadotcom's gaming operation was the pioneer in a slightly different approach to the business. Their approach is called free-to-play. That means it doesn't cost you anything to go online and start to play this game, but if you want your character to progress you go to a virtual store where you actually purchase items that will make your character more powerful and more likely to win the various competitions and challenges that it faces, and you spend real money in this virtual store. So the business model is not so much a price of admission, but an investment you make to being successful.

 

This was a South Korean model which has been tremendously profitable and successful there. It had not been implemented in China until CDC brought it there. And it's been hugely successful. They've actually been taking market share from some of the other players, and really changing the game in terms of online gaming. So what's happening with CDC is that they're in the process of splitting the company into two pieces. There is going to be one piece, which is just a software business, which is a good, profitable solid business for them, and the other one which is this faster-growing gaming business.

 

Q: What is the potential upside?

 

A: We think that if you look at the value of the company split into its two pieces, it's almost 50% higher than the stock price today. So, investors in CDC stand to benefit from this splitting of the company into these two component pieces and the recognition by the market of the true value of this tremendous gaming operation.

 

The second company is Shanda Interactive, previously mentioned. They are one of China's leading online gaming companies, and they have recently moved toward this free-to-play model. The stock was a severe disappointment over the past two to three years as the company became distracted by a hardware initiative where they were rolling out a consumer electronics product that was a brain center for home entertainment, where you would connect your gaming console, DVD player, TV, and Internet, and it would be a hub for home entertainment. That was a failed business strategy and luckily the company is turning away from it, and you've started to see the stock react. It's moved from around 15 to 22, and we think it's got a lot further to go as people realize the value of this change in their gaming business more along the lines of Chinadotcom, toward this free-to-play. The company recently reported very strong results, and the market reacted well, but we think there's still very good upside from where we are today in Shanda.

 

Q: What about the bubble in the domestic markets impacting these stocks?

 

A: Those two names are a little bit separate from the domestically listed lower-quality stocks that have participated in this Shanghai and Shenzhen bubble in the market that's developing. We're hoping that the secular growth these companies are enjoying offsets the impact of a potential correction in China. But we encourage investors to get to know these names, and other names in China which we'll continue to highlight in China Investment Opportunities, and look for their buying opportunities if there is a correction in China, because we continue to believe that China offers the best investment opportunity in the world today.

 

David Riedel does not have a position in stocks mentioned in this article. David's newsletter, China Investment Opportunities, is being offered on our AdviceTrade site starting March 1. If interested in learning more about the newsletter, please email us at info@advicetrade.com.

 

Fluent in Chinese and Thai, David Riedel has been active in Southeast Asian equities since 1992, including eight years with Salomon Smith Barney as a telecom analyst in Thailand and small-cap analyst in New York. He now runs New York City-based Riedel Research Group specializing in Asian equity research for institutions. Starting March 1, David will begin offering his new China Investment Opportunities newsletter through our AdviceTrade site. Email us at info@advicetrade.com if interested in learning more about the China newsletter.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Weekly Wizards is a weekly column courtesy of AdviceTrade.com, publisher of online investment newsletters by leading Wall Street wizards. For more of AdviceTrade's Wizards, please visit our website at www.advicetrade.com.

 

@: http://www.stockhouse.com/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19352

[No6]

Remember all those US problems for on-line bookmakers like PartyGaming a while back? Well, they seem to have done a deal and the share price has recovered by a lot since its low.

 

Shares in PartyGaming (PRTY) jumped by 31p to 250p after it announced it has reached an agreement with the United States authorities that will protect the online gaming group from being prosecuted for providing internet gambling services to customers in the region. The group said it has agreed to pay 105 million dollars in semi-annual instalments over a period ending on 30 September 2012. Chief executive Jim Ryan said the deal marked an "important day" for PartyGaming. "We are now well placed to seize organic as well as strategic opportunities that previously were beyond our reach," he added. The group also reported trading figures. It said the significant strengthening of the US dollar and competitive pressures in its core poker division were the primary factors behind a drop in quarterly revenues. Group revenues fell to 100.1 million dollars during the three months ended 31st March versus 128.9 million dollars last time. Poker revenue dropped to 53.6 million dollars from 80.7 million dollars, due to foreign exchange movements and competitive pressures from US-facing sites, while Casino revenue fell to 40.9 million dollars compared with 42.3 million dollars, though average daily casino revenue was up by 5% versus the previous quarter. "Whilst the business environment remains challenging, our strong poker sign-ups together with the addition of 60 new games to our casino by the end of the first half, further B2B deals in the pipeline and our strong control of costs, mean we are well-placed to capitalise on our great products, great brands and strong cashflow," commented Ryan.

 

UK-Analyst.com: Tuesday 7th April 2009

 

PartyGaming (PRTY), the world's leading listed online gaming company, announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement to launch an online poker tournament service in Italy for INTRALOT S.A, one of the world's largest suppliers of integrated gaming and transaction processing systems to state-owned lotteries worldwide. INTRALOT is to be the first member of PartyGaming's poker network in Italy. The company will have new marketing initiatives in Italy including promoting INTRALOT's online porker through its retail network, which includes 600 betting outlets. The two companies under the terms of the agreement will also cooperate to explore further opportunities for providing online gaming services in specific markets throughout the world. Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of PartyGaming, said: "We are excited about exploring opportunities with INTRALOT, a leading global gaming technology and services provider, which has a presence in more than 50 countries worldwide, an extensive business-to-government operation, as well as an established and high growth presence in the Italian market. This is our third business-to-business deal in 2009 and we are confident of continuing to build our portfolio over the coming months." Shares in PartyGaming fell by 0.75p to 219p.

 

UK-Analyst.com: Monday 6th April 2009

[littledavesab]

Its a shame that this thread does not have more life

 

If one is looking for a growth area in the so called developed world and that is outside of the resources sector then ONLINE GAMBLING certainly springs to mind

 

The traditional large UK bookies have too much debt for my liking

 

London Capital Group Holdings plc(Public, LON:LCG) - is one recently tipped by Jim Slater of the Zulu principal

 

old but still relevant re industry trend

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c883674e-fe25-11...0077b07658.html

 

London Capital Group showed how spread betters remain among the few businesses to be thriving from market turmoil by predicting it would meet analysts' earnings expectations this year, sending its shares up 3 per cent.

 

LCG reported a 35 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £12.6m for calendar 2008, on a 57.6 per cent rise in revenue to £29.6m.

 

Spread betters continue to sign up clients at a blistering pace, in spite of falling equity markets and as regulators pursue a rising number of alleged investment frauds - including Bernard Madoff and Stanford International Bank - that have dented investor confidence.

 

Spread betting involves taking two-way bets on the movement of foreign exchange, interest rates, stock indices and commodity prices.

 

LCG said it had achieved a record level of account openings last year, with client funds up 44 per cent to £24.2m. "In spite of the economic gloom, trading conditions have been kind to us," said Frank Chapman, chief executive.

 

Asked why people were willing to engage in spread betting at a time when the appetite for risk in the wider markets has taken a severe knock, Mr Chapman said: "Is it a good idea to put £20 on the 2.30 at Kempton [Park horse racecourse]? Is it a good idea to give your money to Mr Madoff? People have been betting or gambling since the world began and I think it's just an extension of that."

 

About a third of LCG's clients are aged 33-43 and based in London and the south-east, while slightly more than 5 per cent are aged 66 or above. A total of 90 per cent are men.

 

Almost 32 per cent have salaries ranging from £20,000 to £35,000, according to the company. About 56 per cent had savings of up to £20,000.

 

The company had 33,560 clients last year, including 14,430 new clients for the year. About 35 per cent of them had used their accounts in the past three months.

 

LCG's larger rival IG Group is experiencing a similar rate of growth in its clients and has been expanding abroad.

 

The two companies' shares have fallen by about a quarter in the past 12 months but they have still outperformed the FTSE All-Share Financials index by more than 70 per cent.

 

LCG, in the same way as IG Group, has been expanding abroad by signing "white label" deals with other betting, share trading or technical charting businesses that embed LCG's online trading platform on to their websites.

 

They market LCG's business, while LCG is responsible for running the banking, account management and risk position management. Every time a trader makes a trade - whether they make or lose money - the white label partner takes a small cut of the bid-offer spread.

 

LCG has launched white label operations in Germany and in Denmark, including a deal with Saxo Bank, an online foreign exchange and securities trading specialist.

 

Richard Davey, chairman, said: "While we recognise that economic conditions are extremely difficult and are likely to remain so for some time, we remain confident of the group's ability to continue to grow."

 

LCG shares closed 7¾p higher at 271¾p.

 

 

[littledavesab]

Gaming VC Holdings SA(Public, LON:GVC)

 

Here is another which I have kept an eye on. Has a potential problem with its German licence - Germans like the US previously have decided online gambling/poker playing is a unhealthy vice apparently. (Should I say that their citizens had better stick to property speculation instead - nah !)

 

It is profitable generates good cashflow and pays an excellent dividend. + Its looking to buy a South American co. Its market cap is Mkt Cap: 52.00M ££ and it has a fair bit of cash on its balance sheet, see below.

 

The German issue is the main unknown factor however - therefore is risky. I have no idea what its chart is saying, its been as low as 90p a few times. As always DYOR whatever you do dont punt on the basis of this post. I am not sure if I would buy now.

 

http://www.igamingbusiness.com/article-det...articleID=21051

 

Online casino and sportsbook operator Gaming VC Holdings SA has released its preliminary financial results for 2008 showing a 22.5 percent jump in net profits to €40.9 million.

 

Gaming VC is the firm behind CasinoClub.com and was granted a Maltese gaming license in August of 2007 meaning that it could diversify away from its traditional German market.

 

It reported net gaming revenues of €50.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 17.5 percent, and stated that non-German activities now account for 31 percent of its overall business, a rise of ten percent from 2007.

 

Gaming VC’s operating profit increased to €16.4 million from €16.2 million in 2007 while its profits before tax rose by €300,000 to €16.9 million to give it €17.5 million in cash at the bank as of the end of December.

 

'I am delighted that our strategy to diversify the group's product offering away from Germany continues to be successful,” said Kenneth Alexander, Chief Executive Officer for Gaming VC.

 

“Our non-German brands are growing strongly and their percentage contribution to group revenue is increasing. We continue to seek acquisition opportunities in selected additional markets.

 

“In the first three months of 2009, trading has been slightly ahead of our expectations across all divisions of the group and I am cautiously optimistic that 2009 will be a successful year.'

 

Alexander revealed that Gaming VC’s sportsbook operations had achieved net win margins of over 13 percent and generated 13 percent of the firm’s revenues and 15 percent of its gross profits

[No6]

Its a shame that this thread does not have more life

 

If one is looking for a growth area in the so called developed world and that is outside of the resources sector then ONLINE GAMBLING certainly springs to mind

 

The traditional large UK bookies have too much debt for my liking

I actually think that the traditional UK bookies could be a good long term bet if they learn the lessons of the last 12 months. For example, William Hill was encouraged by so called banking and city experts to take on a massive amount of debt to buy the Stanley Leisure bookmakers a few years back, because it was the only way to expand and create value for the company. Of course, when everything hit the fan in the last year their share price collapsed because according to those same city experts, they now had too much debt. The short sellers had a field day considering that it fell from around 675 to below 150 in a year, this at a time when it was still making decent money off the punters. The same is true today, with the exception of a few good spells that the punters have here and there, WH and Ladbrokes continue to make good money and will most likely survive the recession/depression because people will continue to gamble. This is the average man in the street's stock market!

 

WH just had a rights issue to help put their debt house in order, I doubt whether they will be keen go down that route again in the future.

 

27.02.09 :-6, (236.25) William Hill embarked on a rights issue, scrapped its dividend and renegotiated its banking facilities as it looked to reduce debt and remove uncertainty over refinancing. William Hill said on Friday it planned to raise 350 million pounds ($498.6 million) from a 1-for-1 rights issue priced at a deeply discounted 105 pence per share, 57 percent below Thursday's closing price of 246.75. The company, which is vying with Ladbrokes to be Britain's biggest bookmaker and has 2,300 betting shops, reported full-year pretax profit ahead of expectations and strong current trading as it continued to show resilience against the impact of the recession. Bookmakers are widely regarded as being less vulnerable than other retailers to deteriorating economic conditions given the habitual nature of gamblers and because it is a "low ticket" industry, with an average bet of less than 10 pounds. Shares in William Hill, which have lost 40 percent of their value over the last year on concerns over the refinancing its debt, were down 5.2 percent at 234 pence at 1050 GMT, reflecting the dilutive impact of the rights issue. Analysts said, however, that the refinancing had taken away risks which had weighed upon the stock's performance and the shares are still trading well above the "theoretical ex rights price" of 176 pence per share. "The financial platform has been transformed by the successful rights issues and refinancing.

 

http://www.sharecrazy.com/share2607share/s...er&epic=WMH

[jerpy]

Its a shame that this thread does not have more life

 

Probably because it caused so much pain to some with the online gambling co's Remember riding up on PRTY long time back, but wince as the profits disappeared. Tried to trade leaky stories the U.S was about to relent some time back, in the end i just stayed out in the belief it was a bit dicey.

 

Seem to remember one exec got nailed in the states travelling back to the U.k via America on holiday, that said to me they were serious. Never really looked at the sector since, but just noticing it's back in vogue in the mags.

 

From memory, it wasn't just the U.S that had issues wasn't there some threat to BWIN in Austria, Turkey was a bit dodgy too?

 

Maybe worth a look again, or maybe not.

[No6]

888 holdings.

 

888.com is the most popular online casino and poker operator. It is headquartered and licensed in Gibraltar with further offices in Tel Aviv, Antigua and London. It has over 23 million registered member accounts in over 177 countries worldwide and customer support is available in 11 languages - 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 888.com offers traditional casino products such as blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, keno, slot machines, video, and a variety of poker games.

 

http://www.sharecrazy.com/share2607share/s...re&epic=888

[No6]

Probably because it caused so much pain to some with the online gambling co's Remember riding up on PRTY long time back, but wince as the profits disappeared. Tried to trade leaky stories the U.S was about to relent some time back, in the end i just stayed out in the belief it was a bit dicey.

 

Seem to remember one exec got nailed in the states travelling back to the U.k via America on holiday, that said to me they were serious. Never really looked at the sector since, but just noticing it's back in vogue in the mags.

 

From memory, it wasn't just the U.S that had issues wasn't there some threat to BWIN in Austria, Turkey was a bit dodgy too?

 

Maybe worth a look again, or maybe not.

I thought PartyGaming had resolved their issues, or at least come to some agreement with the US authorities?

[No6]

Re PartGaming.

07-04-09 07.04.09 :+6.75, (250) shares in PartyGaming, 888, and Sportingbet rise after PartyGaming announces a settlement with U.S. authorities over its activities prior to legislation outlawing the industry in 2006. The long-awaited resolution is expected by analysts to open a wave of consolidation across the sector and PartyGaming says it has received a favourable response from banks over possible funding for M&A. PartyGaming has agreed to pay $105 million over four years as part of the non-prosecution agreement. "The settlement with the DoJ is better than we expected both in terms of the size of the settlement and payment structure. The settlement with the DoJ should mark a point of inflection for the group which can look forward without being anchored by the past," said KBC Peel Hunt analyst Nick Batram.

 

http://www.sharecrazy.com/share2607share/s...r&epic=PRTY

[jerpy]

I thought PartyGaming had resolved their issues, or at least come to some agreement with the US authorities?

Yes thats why i might consider looking again, but it was an hard lesson before. Didn't lose as such, just all my profits

 

Once bitten.....