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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/gambling/0,3800010160,39127449,00.htm

Gaming IPO set for FTSE 100?
Gambling on the stock market with £3bn valuation...

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Friday 28 January 2005

Speculation is mounting that online gambling firm PartyGaming is set to float on the London Stock Exchange.

The company which runs PartyPoker.com has reportedly brought in the services of two investment banks, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Investec Securities, sparking talk that an IPO could well be on the cards.

While an IPO is only one of a number of options that may be discussed, city analysts are dangling a very tempting carrot, in the shape of a £3bn-plus valuation, which means a flotation could see the Gibraltar-based operation break into the FTSE 100.

Such a move would also reaffirm a growing consensus that dot-com stocks could once again find favour with investors.

PartyPoker.com – which advertises itself as the world's largest virtual poker room – claims to have as many as 65,000 gamblers worldwide playing on the site at any one time.

The online gambling boom has driven many traditional businesses onto the way in search of punters' pounds, as well as giving rise to dozens of pure-play dot-com businesses, from fixed odds companies such as Blue Square to the revolutionary betting exchange model favoured by Betfair.

According to research out today from YouGov, the demographics of online gambling also show dramatic growth in markets outside the stereotype of the typical gambler.