Blog Title: NetBetBlog

Will it be a Betboo hoo for GVC Holdings?

GVC yesterday announced their long awaited Latin America venture. For the princely sum of $4 million plus a 3 year earn out (capped at $30m) GVC have bought Betboo.com based in Brazil.Betboo currently has 3000 active monthly players. This is not that many in the grand scheme of things. Does this warrant a price tag of $4m?What are they going to do with it to expand numbers? Entering foreign

Learn poker at the Partygaming academy

Partygaming really are listening. Perhaps someone over at PRTY is even reading this blog because they are finally implementing some very basic ideas that have worked on other sites.To compete with Fulltilt they have to match Fulltilt on the following:1. Liquidity - not far behind and they do have enough players and tables2. Table structures - Partygaming need to keep the Jackpot, deep stack and

Betfair enters the US racing market

The European re-invasion of the US has started with Betfair leading the charge.Now betfair is a real success story - pity it is in private ownership. I suspect that this is another great move by Betfair. They rarely make a mistake.This is an extract from a long and well written article.Betfair takes a punt on US horseracing [Times]Betfair, the online betting company, is gambling on an easing of

PartyPoker to go "Professional"

Sometimes I wonder if company executives actually read this blog. As part of my research into pokersites I of course had to, at a large personal cost to myself, register and play on a large number of poker sites.Having compared Fulltilt and Partypoker in the past I made the observation on this site that "Professionals and sponsorship" really do matter.But why should they? I can see why Party

Comments back on

Thanks to a reader for pointing out that comments were still not active. After a particularly bad "spam" attack I had to remove this option. I was not convinced that my readers needed to know about hotels in Vegas 500 times.Comments are again live. I believe they make a valuable addition to the site and look forward to further insights..

Ladbrokes on the slow train to nowhere?

This blog keeps a very close eye on sector trends not least because being ahead of the curve is essential for making good investment calls.For sometime now I have ben concerned about the direction that Ladbrokes is taking. In the past I was very critical of William Hill and they very poor online offering which was badly thought and and poorly executed. They then pulled off a very good deal with

Do we need women friendly poker sites?

In academic where I spend my real life there is a large literature that examines the differences in behaviour (economic) of men and women. There are certainly differences. The odds are that these differences translate to the poker table but why and how?One observation that I have from playing a lot of poker on a lot of sites (for research purposes of course) is that a lot of men have female

Sportingbet to finally pay off the DoJ?

The only thing that has prevented Sportingbet being snapped up by a larger online gaming company is the fact that it has the DoJ UIEGA sword hanging over it.This has proved a blessing and a curse. One thing is for sure, as soon as the DoJ settlement has been concluded there will be a new wave of sector consolidation. There are a number of companies with a for sale sign outside include

SEO and online gaming

Search engine opitmization (SEO) is very important. When I was younger this mattered and I put a lot of effort into optimization of other sites just for fun. Now I can't be bothered sadly otherwise I would be trying to push this blog up from it current page rank of 4 (which is important).Netbetblog was at 5 and 6 at one point. With a bit of work.....maybe one day.This is of interest at it links

Partygaming putting a squeeze play on 888?

Could Partygaming about to pull a classic squeeze play on 888 by stealing Cashcade and Foxybingo from under their noses?This might explain the recent poor performance in 888's share price. I fear that 888 are not big enough to compete once Party start throwing their paper about.Foxybingo is a strategic asset and a centre pin of 888's Bingo liquidity. Party should strike and snap up Cashcade.

Where Italy leads others are sure to follow

The recent online gaming news from Italy could not be better for the sector and explains today's good share price recoveries for a number of shares such as GVC and PARTYGAMING. I will return to 888 later - they may be suffering the classic problem of not quite being big enough.The key is that the Italian government have quickly learnt that gambling regulation can lead to large and important tax

Playtech broker update

Useful upgrade for Playtech. The accounting procedure for the William Hill joint venture has never been entirely clear to me but it appears that Deutsche Bank have worked it out and that it looks good."Deutsche Bank raises Playtech (PTEC.LN) target price to 630p from 610p. Notes the online joint venture with William Hill (WMH.LN) is now launched and trading in line with expectations. "We have

Webis and beinternet pulling in the punters

Webis is very small and very cheap. Almost priced to go bust it is seems to be making a fist of things.This is getting tempting although it is still so small and the market is so competitive.Still a little risky but one to watch. Betinternet is a nice little site and they are busy sponsoring races - I have seen too many of these companies go under though.More research required.Webis Holdings

Should you teach your children to play poker?

An interesting topic and an interesting poker article. This post in poker news daily is an excellent summary the sentiment of which I agree with entirely (although you can be sure this view will not be held by many mothers out there).The sentiment expressed here is similar to how Economists are trained. It is rule of logic and mathematics over emotion. This is why economists get a bad press.

Everest melting away

We are used to good news stories in the sector with results usually surprising on the upside. However, when there are winners their are usually some losers.Fulltilt and Pokerstars have been very successful in brand marketing. Partygaming and not exactly catching up but they are managing to just about cling to their coattails.For others, if the management take their eye off the ball a downward

Financial times talk US poker crackdown

Whilst this small quote tells you nothing that a reader of this blog would not already know it is good to see coverage in the esteemed pink sheet.I agree entirely with this quotation. As a small example I played PartGaming Poker last night and a couple of hours of PKR and steered clear of Fulltilt. For netbetblog research purposes of course. I believe my fulltilt backroll is very safe though

Confirmed - player accounts seized for Fulltilt and pokerstars

I have been banging away about the unfair competitive advantage that Fulltilt and Pokerstars have over 888 and Partygaming for a long time.I have also said that the UIGEA if properly applied could be good for Partygaming IF it wiped out the US competition (which is really next to impossible).There share price reaction today for PARTY and 888 which moved sharply up in afternoon trading shows the

Pokerstars account frozen? $30m at stake

Breaking news - is the US government finally going to get its teeth into Pokerstars?Some $30m has been frozen - who, what, how?This is breaking news.United States Federal Government Freezes $30 Million in Online Poker Funds [pokerdaily]Over $30 million belonging to at least 24,000 online poker players has been frozen by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to

IG index gains from volatility

I need to give more coverage to spread betting especially fiancial spreadbetting.There is a certain irony about spreadbetting on the performance of companies in the gaming sector that I like.IG Index is the spreadbetting daddy and they report good figures building on stockmarket volatility. This volatility has since subsided and as always these results are backward looking.As an investment I am

Minnesota backs down on "black list"

In a further "pro-regulatory" move, Minnesota backed down on their attempt to get certain gaming internet sites banned.This was always going to be futile - why US states persist with these time wasting attempts at turning back the tide is beyond me.They have clearly seen that regulation is the only way forward. However, in the meantime there will be a great number of battles and accounts

Five invited to the Party

PartyGaming attempt to appeal to the mass market gambler. They have a very well respected and established brand and the key to leveraging this brand is to make good use of other media outlets including television.The deal with Channel 5 is exactly the sort of arrangement that they should be making.More interestingly, this demonstrates PartyGaming's B2B team is pulling in the deals. Playtech,

The online casino guide wars continue

What is the future for online gaming portals that currently act as information sites and more often than not simply provide a list of the best online casino websites?On netbetblog we periodically review new or established portals to provide information to readers on those portals that might be worth checking out but also to compare the service that portals give to those who enter Casino's through

What will Sportingbet do with its spare cash?

It is always interesting when online companies hit the mainstream press. Sportingbet got some good coverage in the Times yesterday.It is a good question on what they will do with their £31m. This is not that great a figure relative to others in the market so there are limits to what they can do with it. Returning it to shareholders is not a bad idea.Given they are likely to be bought out

888 to sack 40 in Gibraltar?

This post concerns an odd little piece that I unearthed at Calida Gaming.The news that 888 is sacking a load of people may surprise a few - clearly the sector is not immune to the downturn but what is a little surprising is the positive spin that the article puts on this activity.They may even be right but it does seem a little too cosy for my liking. The placement of an 888 advert directly

"The Online Gaming List"

"The Online Gaming List" is a list of websites under various sections ranked by the amount paid. It is my belief that the higher up the ranking a company appears, the better the site. A link would form part of any SEO activities.For more information see the longer INTRODUCTIONRULES: The site can be listed by paying whatever price you want (min. $15). This post will be constantly updated with