Supercasino brings slice of Vegas to Manchester 30 Jan 2007 Global gaming groups corks will be popping after the UK granted its first "supercasino" licence. In Manchester, the chosen city, less so. The trouble is, noone knows what the impact of the new casino will be other than a big fat profit for the company that runs it.
Meet Sam Zell, the auctioneer 26 Jan 2007 The real estate mogul brilliantly ran the bidding for Equity Office Properties. He scrounged up an extra $2.7bn in 10 weeks for his company. His skills at getting Blackstone and Vornado into a wrestling match would be useful for other American directors to consider.
City banks must stand firm against US gaming probe 22 Jan 2007 US prosecutors are demanding Londonbased advisers hand over confidential client information to help their probe into online gaming firms. The prosecutors have the advisors, who have major US interests, over a barrel. But that's no reason to hang their clients out to dry.
Liverpool bid whips up froth in UK football market 5 Dec 2006 Dubai International s reported price for the Premiership club is less than Man United went for. But that is just the upfront payment. It will also have to help pay for a new stadium. The price for topflight clubs is still high. Only the very rich need apply.
Station Casinos MBO is a bit of theatre 4 Dec 2006 The company s directors are making the right sounds by setting up a special committee and entertaining other offers. But when insiders own more than a quarter of shares, the best outcome for minority investors is a slightly sweeter bid from managers.
Ladbrokes bet on 888 could pay off 6 Nov 2006 The UK leisure group is hunting for bargains and unlike rival suitor Partygaming, its shares still make for an attractive currency. 888 is hardly cheap, at around £3000 per punter. But with big cost savings and technology to play for, the logic of a deal stacks up.
What’s pricier than a suite at the Four Seasons? 6 Nov 2006 Buying the company. The $3.7bn founder Sharp, Bill Gates and Prince Alwaleed are paying for the hotel chain is extremely lavish. Yet investors don t seem satisfied. They re betting Sharp will have to pay a conflictofinterest surcharge to go private.
Online gaming M&A talks bear whiff of desperation 30 Oct 2006 Since the US nixed online gambling, sector consolidation is no longer a case of empirebuilding, but of cutting costs to stay in the game. Take a mooted tieup between Partygaming and 888. A month ago such a deal would have created a £5bn giant. Now it s worth just £1.6bn.
Ferretti’s owners should flip not float 26 Oct 2006 Buyout firms are salivating over the Italian yachtmaker s rapid growth, and bulletproof cachet among the ranks of the uberrich. Ferretti was planning an IPO. But when private equity is probably willing and able to pay more, a secondary sale could make more sense.
Online gaming investors face more short-term pain 20 Oct 2006 Stocks like Partygaming were a punt on US legality. Now they re a bet on nonUS growth and eventual consolidation. That should mean more investors prepared to play. But valuations don t yet reflect the new reality of lower margins and likely tax bills.
Casino buyers double down 2 Oct 2006 Apollo and TPG ante up for casino operator Harrah s. But this is a risky bet on a firm that s already highly leveraged. While casino operators are no strangers to debt, the Harrah s buyout is worthy of Trump.
Game over for online gambling 2 Oct 2006 Partygaming, 888 and other online gaming groups are closing down their US operations after Congress voted effectively to ban internet bets. Sure, they still have their smaller European and Asian operations. But the big bet has spectacularly failed.
Right to IPO won’t be magic bullet for French football 19 Sep 2006 Allowing clubs on the stock exchange is common sense. But only Olympique Lyonnais looks like an attractive proposition. Investment in football has its own, peculiar risks. The game is for privateequity players, rather than for individual investors.
Sportingbet release eases online gaming fears 15 Sep 2006 Whatever Louisiana has against the online gaming group s boss, it didn t impress the NY authorities, who allowed Dicks to return to the UK. This was clearly very different to the wellorchestrated sting that snared Betonsports. For that, the industry will breathe a little easier.
High-rolling foreigners fuel casino consolidation 12 Sep 2006 Overseas gambling groups are snapping up UK casinos ahead of the market's deregulation. The two pureplay operators have already got bids. There's little else to buy. But Rank s casinos are a likely target. And the private equity firms that own Gala must be rubbing their hands.
New betting arrest throws sector into spin 7 Sep 2006 Sportingbet s chairman a nonexec has been detained in the US. Bang goes the theory that rival BetonSports was a lone target. Whether Sportingbet has done wrong is beside the point. While US authorities have an axe to grind against the industry, all bets are off.
Online gaming backlash claims another victim 10 Aug 2006 Germany is the latest country to shut out a foreign online gaming group. It wants to shore up its own state monopoly. Bwin and its peers may have EU law on their side. But that might not be enough to beat governments, which have tax revenues at stake.
Partygaming stellar Q2 eclipsed by US fears 21 Jul 2006 The online gaming group says it is business as usual in its core US market despite the arrest this week of the boss of BetonSports. Investors can t afford to be so sanguine. Partygaming may be growing like topsy but that hardly matters if the business is illegal.
US government throws the book at BetonSports 18 Jul 2006 The UKlisted online gaming group faces demands for $4.5bn in back taxes, the closure of its US business and the extradition of directors. It s not clear why BetonSports has been singled out. But the US clearly has the industry in its sights.
Juventus shows (again) that football and finance don’t mix 17 Jul 2006 The football team may have triumphed on the field, but even before its legal problems it was an investment basket case. It would probably be better as a private company. But many investors won t want to sell at the bottom.