UNITED KINGDOM - Mergers are still the business talk among online gaming companies and the latest to be rumored to be merging are British online gaming operator, Sportingbet Plc, and Malta-based Unibet Plc.
Unnamed sources told the Sunday Times newspaper that Sportingbet and Unibet have had small discussions to merge and create a holding company worth around GBP 600 million (US$ 966 million). However, the same sources said that any official announcement about the merger will come out next year since the merger still has "lots of hoops to go through".
Sportingbet was founded in 1997 and operates sportsbooks, casino sites, and an online poker cardroom, Paradise Poker. Its Sportsbook.com and Paradise Poker brands were popular with US customer but after the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, it has since sold Sportsbook.com and has closed its gaming operations to US citizens. It currently has aroound 2.5 million registered customers in 200 countries and had an annual net income in 2009 of GBP 12.4 million. (US$ 20 million). Unibet operates in its primary markets of Belgium, Netherlands, France, the rest of the Nordic region, as well as the rest of Europe. It is one of Europe's largest online gambling operators with over 3.6 million registered customers.
Sportingbet however declined to comment on the merger rumors.
Source: Reuters
Date Posted: November 15, 2010
