Taking it online - it's all in the timing.

info@egamingpulse.com (news manager) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Some days ago 888 made public the fact that they were in talks with "unspecified firms" about a takeover. Today the Gibraltar based British bookmaker Ladbrokes revealed that they are one of these firms. Analysts peg the deal at around £470m, but Ladbrokes was quick to stress that no agreement was imminent. 888 and indeed Party Gaming suffered greatly when they were forced to shed American customers & hence up to 75% of their income after the US Federal government introduced a law designed to effectively block online gaming for Americans. These new laws also caused a stock price tumble in the gaming sector on the LSE. Partygaming shares decreased in value by around 70% and 888 by close to 25%.

Analysts predicted a period of acquisition both by and of the larger online gaming companies. But chances are that we will see other groups moving in for opportunistic purchases. This may suit 888's key shareholders nicely, and in fact it was reported in the London newspaper The Mail that certain larger stake holders may prefer someone other than a direct online gaming competitor acquire them. Some readers will remember a certain Las Vegas casino's foray into the online world a few years ago. In short the whole exercise was a fruitless and costly, as this operator decided not to take US players. The online casino closed down some months after with many millions of dollars of losses. The Las Vegas strip may be slow to change, but the casino's business direction moves a little more quickly.

The MGMs and Harrahs of the world really are the best positioned to capitalize on any legalization through proper regulation of online gambling fin the US. The US casino industry has great brand recognition and not just in their own country but world wide. They are seen by many as leaders in customer retention management and they have huge customer databases. Both things, along with huge marketing marketing budget they can bring to the table, will make for a powerful cross-marketing situation. I am sure some in the industry are thinking more in terms of "when" and not "if" a large vegas player will acquire a still smarting wounded giant of the online world. When they do, the online gaming world will tremble yet again.

Gambling advertising - check your spam folder.

info@egamingpulse.com (news manager) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Canada and the US. They have a common border, speak the same language and pretty much share the same habits. Another commonality is want to suffocate online gambling. Canada's conservative government recently introduced legislation that would ban advertising online gaming Unless the advertising is for government-sanctioned and government operated horse racing, lotteries and brick and morter casinos.

It would seam obvious to most that advertising online gambling in North America would lead to criminal prosecution. But has this legislation from both sides of the 49th parrell put web casino advertising to the sword? Granted, there has been a marked drop in the amount of paid internet gambling web advertising. But have you checked your e-mail accounts spam folder recently? The upswing in gambling spam is marked and not surprisingly. After all, only law abiding gambling companies will obey the anti internet gambling laws. The less scrupulous offshore operators have always used spam as a way to market their wares and now have surely opened the flood gates. Identifing these spam emails and tracking down the senders is much too big job for Canadian and American authorities combined. This reminds me of another type of spam email that the US government would love to see gone; offers to sell illegal prescription drugs. But that is a subject that the Canadian government has a slightly different opinion.

EGamingPulse - Commentary

Taking it online - it's all in the timing.

Gambling advertising - check your spam folder.