One of the oldest, and most easily found interactive gaming portals, www.casino.com, was sold by Boss Media to an unknown buyer for $5.5 million this week.
The identity of the new owner will be disclosed by the end of the year.
The site, which was used to fuel traffic to Boss Media licensees' gambling sites, features news items, online gambling tips and, of course, advertising.
Peter Bertilsson, CEO of Boss Media, said the decision to sell was made last winter when the board decided to move the business in a different direction.
"We really want to concentrate on the business-to-business side of things," he said. "We think it is important right now to put all of our focus and energy into becoming the best supplier we can be for our licensees."
As part of the sale, the new buyer will take over controlling interest in Boss Media's Casino.com print magazine. Highbury House Publishing, the publisher of Gambling Online magazine, took over the operations for Casino.com magazine in spring 2003. Bertilsson was quick to extinguish speculation that Highbury House is the unnamed buyer, but indicated that the buyer is a known company to the gaming and entertainment industry.
Bertilsson said Boss will also sell its online casino, Gold Club Casino, by the end of this year--a move that he said should send a clear message to the industry.
"It seems like all of our competitors, with the exception of Chartwell, are doing their own site or at least using their influence onto a single site," he said. "Since last winter, we have
wanted to take the route of just doing B2B work. . . . Our actions show that we are serious about focusing on our core product and making it the best it can be and the best in the industry."
The second major change in the company's business plan is moving away from the
North American markets.
"We are trying to focus more on Europe and getting away from any reliance on U.S. or the U.S. marketplace, since there is a lot of legal uncertainty there," Bertilsson explained.
Boss Media supplies the software for some of the leading interactive gambling sites in the industry. Licensees include William Hill, Victor Chandler, Bet 365 Group and Sportingbet Plc., among others.
The company's third-quarter earnings report, released last week, shows that net sales have decreased by 2 percent and royalty income has decreased by 5 percent. The company attributed the decreases to currency fluctuations and seasonal variations.
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