PartyGaming speculated financing possible sports Online Madhur Day Panel Chart

It is thought Party is looking towards a European-focused but ex-UK sports betting operation in order to diversify its interests away from it mainly US-focused poker and casino interests. Two names heavily tipped as possible takeover targets Gamebookers and Unibet.

 

The privately-owned Gamebookers was acquired by Isle of Man-based Trident in July 2005 for $43 Million (£24 Million). It has a strong presence across Europe, especially eastern and southern Europe and has approximately 150,000 registered customers. It is very active in promoting and marketing itself in those territories and has signed numerous sponsorship deals with sports and football clubs. In October 2005, Gamebookers revealed it was looking at a stock market flotation and valued itself at between £75 Million and £100 Million.

 

And Swedish-listed betting and Madhur Day Panel Chart operator Unibet. listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and is one of the leading online bookmakers in Scandinavia. Its share price at the time of writing had gone up SEK5 to SEK195, valuing the company at just over SEK5bn ($678 Million).

 

Wayne Brown, analyst at Altium Capital, said: "Party could go into the UK market, but it probably wants something more continental Europe-focused. It wouldn´t want to be going up against the strong UK brands."