Fairground Bails out of the US
Fairground Gaming Holdings (FGH.L) announced on Friday that it will dispose of its U.S.-facing gaming operations to comply with the U.S. Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The board unanimously decided to sell the unit, Spin Palace Group back to its major shareholder, Seahouses Holdings. Total consideration for the payment will be £11 million (US$20.8 million) with an initial cash payment of £5 million ($9.4 million) made to Seahouses, which will take on all liabilities, player balances and employees of Spin Palace, Fairground said in a prepared statement. Fairground acquired Spin Palace in May for US$65.3 million. The board plans to liquidate the company after the sale and return an estimated 21.5 pence a share to investors other than Seahouses. The sale requires approval from Fairground investors at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 11. Owners of 9.7 percent of the stock have agreed to support the proposal, the company said. If the plan is accepted, Fairground's stock would stop trading on Dec. 15, and cash would be paid out to investors by the end of February.
Bodog Buys Betcorp
Shareholders of Australian online sports book Betcorp Limited (BCL.AX) approved on Wednesday the final sale of the company's Canadian and Antiguan operating subsidiaries to privately held gaming company Bodog Entertainment Group SA for US$9 million. Betcorp operated the successful online sports book BetWWTS.com as well as the smaller Oasis sports book, BetHoldem Poker and Thunderbolt Casino. Because Bodog does not operate within Canada, all Canadian customers now receive their service from online bookmaker and poker operator Bowmans.com.
Reporting
Austrian Internet betting firm bwin Interactive Entertainment AB (BWIN.VI) announced on Thursday that it expects to write off most of the value of the U.S. poker Web site it acquired for more than 500 million euros (US$639 million) earlier this year, wiping hundreds of millions of euros off its balance sheet. "The precise amount of the writedown will be agreed with our auditors, but it will be around 500 million euros," Chief Executive Norbert Teufelberger said on a conference call. The company said shareholders' equity would remain strongly positive despite the writedown. The release of bwin's financial results for the three and nine months ending Sept. 30, 2006, brought further bad news, including missed third-quarter forecasts and a slashed full-year outlook. Other details of the report include a third-quarter core loss of 5.6 million euros, while gross gaming revenues almost tripled to 97.2 million euros. The company lowered its guidance for 2006 EBITDA, saying it expects to break even on this level if restructuring costs are excluded. The previous EBITDA forecast was for 40 million euros.
bwin Interactive Entertainment AB - Third-Quarter Earnings
Toronto-based online and interactive casual games provider Fun Technologies Inc. (FUN.L), operator of the World Winner and SkillJam operations, closed the gap on losses in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2006 as unaudited revenue rose 66 percent to US$13.1 million from the previous third quarter. For the nine months ending the same date, Fun reported unaudited revenue of approximately $25.5 million. The company's EBITDA losses stood at US$4.2 million in the third quarter, compared to a US$7.5 million loss in the 9-month period to the same date.
Fun Technologies Inc. - Third-Quarter Earnings