Speculation has risen following a three headed bid for the online casino sports betting giant Victor Chandler Group, and now there are attempts to clear the air. Party Gaming, an online casino firm, was declared some time ago as the front runner at a race that has been receiving much attention. It seemed as if Party Gaming, like many other online gambling firms, was looking to diversify its business, reducing its reliance on poker and US revenues and looking into sports betting. The Victor Chandler Group, which has £1.4 billion in turnover a year and is valued at £300 million, seemed attractive because it does good business not just in Europe, but also Asia.
Party Gaming, the world's largest online casino gambling group, experimented for the first time with sports betting and earlier this year bought the Bulgarian based Game Bookers, for £69 million, which according to the buyers is currently "over-performing". It wasn't to far fetched to assume that they had serious intentions about the next sports related acquisition.
Alas, the online casino giant has rejected speculation concerning the victor chandler group issue, and has declared that it has no interest in the acquisition of the online casino firm. In a statement released, executive Mitch Garber told reporters that "Party Gaming PLC has no interest in acquiring Victor Chandler's Gibraltar-based sports betting empire". Garber wishes to emphasize that he is not interested to embark on a bidding war in any other potential acquisition. His remarks were pointed specifically at speculation that Party Gaming could enter into the race for World Gaming, which is in preliminary talks with Sporting bet Plc. |
