Blue Square Loses £2 Million Turnover During Weekend
Blue Square, an online betting Web site owned by Rank Group plc (RNK), was out of commission during the weekend. Ed Pownall, the spokesman for Blue Square, estimates that the technical difficulties cost the site £2 million in turnover.
Bettors were unable to access the Web site were told the site was down due to technical problems on Saturday. The site was up and running on Sunday, but the bookmaker had missed out on the action for the Coral-Eclipse Stakes and Ladies Wimbledon final.
"It was a blow that it happened when it did, if it had happened on a Monday, it would have been easier to take," said Pownall. "We have 400,000 people registered with us and 190,000 active users so to lose two days of big trading is very embarrassing."
"We can only apologize profusely for what's happened -- it's been an absolute nightmare," Pownall continued. "We will try and appease people who felt they missed out and that can often mean compensation of some sort."
Rank bought Blue Square in January in a deal that valued the bookmaker at £65 million.
MGM Mirage, Station Get Low Rating from Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley analyst Todd Scott gave mid-level to low rankings to a handful of land-based gaming companies, a few of which have at least considered a foray into online gambling, last Tuesday, reported CBS MarketWatch.com.
Park Place Entertainment (PPE), Mandalay Resort Group and Harrah's Entertainment (HET) were all given the mid-level rating of "equal weight," according to the financial news site. Scott said Park Place is fairly valued and that its scale and growth are appropriately reflected in its stock price. Mandalay, he said, has a strong estimated free cash flow yield.
MGM Mirage (MGG) and Station Casinos (STN) were both given the low ranking of "underweight." MGM Mirage recently closed its Isle of Man-based online gambling operation, and Station Casinos in June 2002 backed out of its agreement to acquire 50 percent of Kerzner Interactive, which also no longer exists. Kerzner Interactive for a time operated an online version of Casino Atlantis.
Scott gave high ratings -- "overweight" -- to gaming companies including Argosy Gaming, Aztar and Boyd Gaming.
AngelCiti Shareholder Exchanges 80 Million Shares
Omega Ventures, the single largest shareholder in AngelCiti Entertainment Inc. (OTC BB: AGLC) has agreed to return 80 million of its common shares to the AngelCiti treasury in exchange for 12,000 preferred "series A" shares that were created by the company.
The series A shares will allow for 5,000 votes per share an dare not transferable to common shares. Originally, Omega agreed to return 5 million fewer shares.
"This transaction with Omega has materially increased our funding options and opportunities and we look forward to rapidly completing prospective fundings to grow the company at an even greater pace," said AngelCiti President George Gutierrez.
Penn National Gaming Conference Call July 24
Penn National Gaming Inc. (PENN) will hold a second-quarter conference call and Webcast at 10 a.m. EST on July 24. To listen to the conference call, dial 212-896-6012 or 415-537-1813 five minutes prior to the beginning of the call. The conference will be Webcast at www.companyboardroom.com. A recording of the call will be available until Aug. 7 by calling 800-633-8284 or 402-977-9140 and using the access code 21154401. The replay will also be available on the Company Boardroom Web site for 30 days.