Following Friday's announcement by online poker and casino promoter Empire Online that the company was entertaining a £790 million (~ $1.5 billion) offer approach, speculations in the industry began to fly as to the identity of the elusive potential bidder. Early guesses pinned online poker company Party Gaming, as well as 888.com and Sportingbet as prime suspects, but an announcement made today by Sportingbet put an end to speculation. Sportingbet confirmed the offer approach, but also stated that the current talks with Empire “may or may not lead to an offer." Sportingbet promised to release more information “in due course."

Empire Online is estimated to be worth approximately £773 million (~ $1.4 billion), and has earned a value of this caliber by driving traffic and offering marketing services to online gaming sites. Although Empire Online helps promote both online poker and casino sites, the bulk of its revenue is derived from online poker. In addition, the proportion of revenues earned through promoting poker online can be expected to grow, as poker continues to become increasingly dominant in the online gaming market.

Source: Poker777 Staff

Monday, 5 September 2005