All Eyes On Gaming Groups As City Bets On Merger

The multimillion-dollar World Series of Poker tournament may have gripped the attention of the gambling world in Las Vegas over the past few days, but this week all eyes will be on home-grown casino operators.

London Clubs International (LCI), home of the exclusive Les Ambassadeurs club in Mayfair, will report its annual results on Wednesday, as will Stanley Leisure, owner of the Crockfords venue. Both companies' share prices have soared on hopes they might be pushed together by Genting, the Malaysian leisure group, which has built stakes in the groups and owns more than 20 per cent of each.

Merger rumours will still abound. Analysts expect LCI to report a pre-tax loss of up to £2m, with the company hit by refurbishment delays. Stanley Leisure's profits are also expected to drop on last year, after a run of winning favourites knocked results from the betting division. But Stanley has recently sold its betting shops to William Hill, which will deliver about 250p to shareholders.

Both companies will update the market on their plans to take advantage of the new Gambling Act. This allows casino operators to advertise for the first time, and scraps the rule that barred customers from entering the casino until 24 hours after they had signed up. LCI and Stanley will reveal their strategy for competing for 17 casino licences, the jackpot of which will be a supercasino with 1,250 high-prize slot machines.