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STARS DENIES FTP DEAL COLLAPSE RUMOURS
Corporate communications head denies claims circulating on social networks
PokerStars head of corporate communications Eric Hollreiser has moved to dismiss rumours suggesting the operator’s deal to acquire former rival Full Tilt Poker has collapsed. Refusing to reveal his source, former PartyGaming legal counsel James Barnes said on social networking site Twitter: “Pokerstars folds on FTP deal. Never real deal, just bluff to prevent Tapie from bringing FTP back to market – great bargaining chip with DOJ.” Hollreiser has since revealed to media sources that there are “false tweets” in circulation with regards to PokerStars and Full Tilt. Earlier this month, PokerStars ?led a motion to dismiss the amended civil complaint, meeting the deadline for the
NEWS IN BRIEF
Zynga leads race to buy Ongame
Social gaming giant Zynga has made a verbal offer to acquire Swedish poker network Ongame. Sources close to the matter confirmed Zynga is at the front of a six-company queue interested in buying bwin. party-owned Ongame, a group comprised of both operators and B2B suppliers. Zynga representatives visited Ongame’s head office in Stockholm to start negotiations earlier this month with a source suggesting the social gaming leader is “in the lead” to buy the network.
?ling by a matter of hours, and it had been thought at the time that this could be in danger of jeopardising the alleged agreement to acquire Full Tilt, although the Isle of Man-based operator remains bullish of a favourable outcome. It had been suggested that such a deal would be worth as much as US$1.5bn, and would cover a settlement with the United States Department of Justice and the repayment of outstanding FTP player balances (totalling approximately $330m). Barnes also stated on Twitter that “[The] DoJ have rejected proposals by [PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg] to have civil charges dropped. He declined to comment further on the matter when contacted by eGR.
Skrill strikes deal to acquire paysafecard
Online payment processor Skrill has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of shares in prepaid voucher provider paysafecard.com Wertkarten AG and its subsidiary firms paysafecard.com Wertkarten Vertriebs GmbH and Prepaid Services Company Limited. The company formerly known as Moneybookers, which last year began a major rebranding, will acquire the Austrian company – which provides its voucher services for major egaming operators including Bet365 and PokerStars – for a total consideration of up to €140m.
SOCIAL AND GERMANY TO HIT BWIN.PARTY BOTTOM LINE
German gaming tax expected to reduce clean EBITDA by €10m
Bwin.party has announced the introduction of gambling tax in Germany, and its continued investment in social is to impact the group’s performance in the second half of 2012, with EBITDA expected to be down a further €5-10m as a result. In the group’s pre-close trading update, the operator explained that while it still believes the modi?ed version of the State Lottery Treaty signed by 15 of the 16 German Länder “once again fails to meet the tests already set by the jurisprudence from the Court of Justice of the European Union”, it will continue to operate in the market, paying 5% tax on turnover as the treaty dictates, ahead of the opening of the licensing process. This is expected to hit group EBITDA with an additional €5-10m in costs, on
top of the expected €10m in costs accrued through the group’s €40m investment in social gaming, with the launch of its Win Interactive subsidiary in May following the acquisition of Ukrainian development studio Orneon Limited. Win, headed up by former Mytopia chief executive Barak Rabinowitz, announced the beta-launch of Poker Friends and Spinning Heads as the ?rst products to be released by the division since its formation. Commenting on the three months beginning April 2012, bwin.party announced EBITDA margins are expected to be higher than expected following the delayed opening of the Spanish market, with the intended marketing investment delayed until June.
Ladbrokes warns of further online decline
Ladbrokes CEO Richard Glynn will look to stop relying on retail growth and improve the operator’s online performance after it announced online profits for the first six months of 2012 would fall to half the amount posted in H1 2011. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Ladbrokes revealed that “digital” profits would be down “further than anticipated”, blaming poor sportsbook margin in the second quarter of 2012 and delays in the delivery of technology projects leading to lower revenues for the period.
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