Compared to June's overwhelmingly lucrative Party Gaming IPO, the upcoming stock market debut of online poker and casino operator Cassava Enterprises is a considerably more modest offering. Cassava, which owns online casinos 888.com and Casino on Net, as well as online poker room Pacific Poker, is expected to issue its prospectus early next month.

Since its float, shares for Online poker company Party Gaming have grown 38 percent. Party Gaming's performance blew away the expectations of more pessimistic analysts, who thought that the legal complications attached to online gambling would make this a disappointing investment. The same suspicions are surrounding Cassava's impending float.

Cassava's offering is expected to be at a substantial discount to that of Party Gaming, with the float valuation estimated at £700m. One of the reason's for Cassava's lower float price is its size, namely that the company is much smaller than Party Gaming, although Cassava's 888.com commands the largest player base of any online casino.

Secondly, online poker growth is much faster than the growth of general online casinos. Thus, Party Gaming's online poker focus helped raise its value. Cassava, on the other hand, deals more in casinos than poker, and thus was more modestly valuated.

Source: Poker777 Staff

Monday, 29 August 2005