The Times reports that the large Internet gambling operator 888 Holdings
is the suitor in exclusive discussions to acquire ukbetting, a smaller
rival that also has an online sports content business.
It is understood that the talks were started before the unexpected
decision by the US Senate to ban internet gambling financial transactions,
and industry sources believe that it is by no means certain that a
deal will be agreed.
UKBetting operates the ukbetting.com gambling website as well as
sports news operations such as football365.com, said earlier this
week it had received “preliminary approaches” from a company
interested in making an offer to purchase, but 888 has not so far
commented publicly.
City experts said that following the news of the anti-online gambling
legislation from the USA at the weekend, a flurry of takeover activity
can now be expected as operators look to compensate for the loss of
revenues from the significant US market.
Ukbetting is the first company to reveal it has been approached, although
it warned that there was “no certainty” that a formal
offer will be made. The company is in a stronger position than some
because it has eschewed bets from US gamblers due to uncertainty over
the legal situation across the Atlantic.
Ukbetting lost a relatively low 6 percent of its value earlier this
week in the chaotic sell-off following the US ban, where several leading
companies saw their value halved or worse. The announcement of the
approaches sent its shares 12 percent higher Thursday.
The company is currently worth GBP 84 million (Euro124 million), and
also owns Teamtalk Media Group which has websites including sportinglife.com,
teamtalk.com, golf365.com and planetf1.com.