Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Sportingbet may bid for Antigua-based gaming company

Friday, September 8, 2006

by: Louisa Nesbitt

England (Bloomberg), LONDON: Sportingbet Plc, the Web bookmaker that owns Paradise Poker, has said that it is in talks that may result in a 46.2 million-pound ($87 million), all-stock takeover bid for Antigua-based World Gaming Plc.

An offer would value World Gaming's shares at 104 pence each, Sportingbet said Thursday in a statement.

The Caribbean company runs Web sites that offer sports bets, poker and casino games and licenses software to other gaming operators.

"This would appear to be a very cheap valuation for World Gaming, and we would be very surprised if the deal was concluded at this level," Greg Feehely, an analyst at Altium Securities in London, said in a research note. Investors also should be aware that most of the company's business comes from US gamblers, he said.

Sportingbet stock remains 27 percent below the price at which it ended trading on July 14, the last close before London-based online bookmaker Betonsports Plc said its chief executive officer had been detained by US authorities. Shares of Sportingbet slid 44 percent in the next two sessions as US prosecutors charged Betonsports with crimes including fraud.

World Gaming shares were unchanged at 92 pence at 10:05 am in London on Thursday. They cost 52.5 pence each when they were first sold to investors in May 2005. Sportingbet stock, which Altium advises investors to buy, fell 6 pence, or 2.5 percent, to 238 pence.

First-half profit rose more than fivefold after the acquisition of sportsbetting.com, World Gaming said in July.

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