LONDON (Reuters) - Online gaming firm 888 is optimistic of 30 percent revenue growth this year, helped by a better-than-expected start from its new sports betting and bingo sites.
"Current run rate indicates 20 percent (overall revenue growth), and we are bullish on pushing this. Do I think 30 percent is too much? No, I don't think 30 is too much," Chief Executive Gigi Levy told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Levy added that the firm's new bingo and sports betting Web sites were seeing strong growth.
"Bingo is doing dramatically above anything we expected. The run rate is currently where we expected to get to by the end of the year, it's that good."
"Sports was only launched a few weeks ago, and already last week we had hundreds of new sign-ups every day."
Online poker and casino firms have been gradually rebuilding their businesses after the U.S. closed off the world's biggest market in 2006 with a ban on gambling-related banking transactions.
The move wiped billions of dollars off the value of online gaming stocks virtually overnight and led to a number of founders and online executives being prosecuted for taking illegal bets.
888 and its rivals PartyGaming and Sportingbet are now locked in talks with U.S. lawmakers.
"I think it's getting clearer and clearer for everyone that this may take time, but this is heading one way, and that is towards a resolution," said Levy.
888 and PartyGaming have said they expect a deal, whatever it is, to be reached during the second half of the year.
Analysts expect the firms to be hit with hefty fines but predict a subsequent rush of consolidation as land-based casino operators and bookmakers decide it is finally safe to buy up fast-growing online firms.
Levy agreed but said it was unlikely 888 would resurrect previous failed deals with PartyGaming or UK bookmaker Ladbrokes.
"I'm not sure these particular two deals will ever come back, because every deal that goes away has some leftovers with it.
"I think you could see the likes of the big UK operators going out to enhance their problematic growth with a quick-growing online business and big European lotteries doing the same," he added.
888 said earlier on Tuesday that 2008 had started well as it posted 2007 profits of $46 million, in line with analysts' expectations of between $40.8 and $47.4 million.
The Pacific Poker operator has set itself a target of doubling revenues and tripling profits by 2010. On average analysts currently expect it report a 2008 pretax profit of $60 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
888's shares, which have risen by around 50 percent since the U.S. shutdown in Oct 2006 and 20 percent in the last two months, were up 3.6 percent at 152 pence at 1100 GMT.
"Everything is very much in line with a bullish outlook statement, but we are not upgrading at this point. The dividend (5 cents) is a bit better than we were expecting, but it's not blowing the lights out," said Arbuthnot analyst Paul Leyland.
0 comments:
Post a Comment