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UK
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24 May 2005
Punters Gamble On Online Poker
Boom
Excited
punters - on hearing that Lord Steinberg is to become
non-executive chairman of Tradal which is behind leading
online gambling site Empire Poker - chased shares of Stanley
Leisure 8¾p higher to 548p. Tradal is currently
planning a £550m flotation on the London Stock
Exchange.
They were willing to take
big bets on super-rich Steinberg also acquiring a sizeable
shareholding in the Cyprus-based Tradal and sooner, rather
than later, selling his remaining 11.4% stake in Stanley
Leisure, worth £64m.
Should Malaysian gambling
giant Genting decide to buy it, this would take its
shareholding to 31.5% a level which would automatically
trigger a full takeover bid. Of course, Genting could
instead buy it and immediately broker a £1bn merger
deal with London Clubs International , 1p off at 121p, in
which it also holds a 22.1% stake.
Founder and chairman
Steinberg hit the jackpot in November when he trousered
£36m by selling 8m Stanley Leisure shares, or 10.2% to
Genting. The two also announced a joint venture deal to
build large-scale casinos in the UK - one of the first being
a casino at Leeds United's Elland Road stadium.
Stanley Leisure's recent
sale of 624 betting shops to William Hill , 1p dearer at
510½p, for £500m will enable Stanley to focus on
its casino businesses. Meanwhile, Stanley plans to return
£300m to shareholders.
Tradal is the latest of a
number of poker sites to look at a flotation. Party Gaming,
which operates the world's largest online business, Party
Poker, appointed investment banks Dresdner Kleinwort
Wasserstein and Investec to advise on its options, including
an Initial Public Offering.
Just look what happened to
Sportingbet after it forked out £169m for Paradise
Poker in October. Its shares soared from around 100p to
touch 349p in March and closed 3p better at 270p yesterday.
Third-quarter figures on 2 June will not
disappoint.
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