Poker stocks are a hot commodity these days in financial markets. The recent and very successful flotation of both Party Gaming and Empire Online, might be followed very soon by another major poker flotation, as Ultimate Bet Poker is preparing for an IPO on the London Stock Exchange, according to The Times.
Ultimate Bet is one of the major contenders in online poker, and consistently ranks in the Top 10 of online poker rooms as published by PokerPulse. Ultimate Bet will use the services of Canada's Canaccord Capital, an independent global investment dealer, to help with the planned listing. It hopes to raise at least GBP 30m, which would value the company somewhere between GBP 145m and GBP 200m.
Ultimate Bet is operated by Excapsa , and was launched as early as 2000. Excapsa also operates Ultimate Poker, which is focused specifically on the U.K. market. The company is licensed in Canada by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.