Online Gambling Press

888 Sales Rise as Casino Games Bring in More Players

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888 Holdings Plc, the U.K.'s second- largest online gaming company, said fourth-quarter sales rose 55 percent after more gamblers bet on casino games and poker. Sales climbed to $62.8 million from $40.5 million a year earlier, the Gibraltar-based company said today in a statement. This year's first quarter “started strongly,'' according to 888, the owner of the Casino On Net and Pacific Poker brands.

Last year was the company's first full year without any business in the U.S. after a 2006 law barred foreign betting Web sites, cutting 888 off from its main market. To keep sales rising, the company is adding sports betting to its array of games in Europe in the current quarter with partner Rank Group Plc and introducing an online casino and wagers on sports in Asia.

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Following Revenue Rise, Playtech Optimistic

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Playtech, the world's biggest online casino and poker software firm, said today that it was highly confident about 2008 trading as fourth-quarter revenues jumped substantially. The UK-based, Israeli-run firm said revenues rose 101 percent to $32.7 million (£17 million) when the previous financial year's U.S. revenues were not included.

Playtech, whose poker and casino software is used by sites like Bet365 and Blue Square, has rapidly rebuilt its business with European and Asian online betting sites after the U.S. government effectively banned online gaming in October 2006. Revenues from its core casino games software grew to $22.9 million in the three months to end December and revenue from its fast-growing online poker software rose to $9.4 million.

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