Sportingbet

Infobox Company
name = Sportingbet PLC
type = Public
foundation = United Kingdom (1998)
location = Moorgate, City of London flagicon|UK
industry = Gambling, E-Gaming
products = Sports betting
Financial betting
Poker (Paradise Poker)
Casino (Paradise Casino)
Games
Backgammon
slogan = There's all to play for!
homepage = [http://www.sportingbet.com/ www.sportingbet.com]
[http://www.paradisepoker.com/ www.paradisepoker.com] ]
[http://www.sportingbet.com.au/ www.sportingbet.com.au]

Sportingbet PLC is a British e-gaming operator traded on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) (symbol: SBT.L), as of late September 2006 Sportingbet had a market capitalization in excess of UK£ 750m. The company's Group Chief Executive is Andrew McIver.

Sportingbet operates local-focused sportsbooks, virtual games and casino sites, and the online poker cardroom, Paradise Poker. Overall, the company has over 2.5 million registered customers in 200 countries, who place over one million bets (casino, poker, sports and virtual games) per day.

Sportingbet operates several websites. The largest of these are wholly owned and operated by Sportingbet. They also use a system similar to a franchise, in which independent website operators use Sportingbet's centralized software, financial services, grading, and customer service under license. These web sites receive a cut of the profits their customers generate.

Sportingbet acquired Paradise Poker in October 2004. Between then and January 2006, Sportingbet's share price increased more than 375%.

Sportingbet's corporate offices are located in London, England. They also have offices and call centres in the Guernsey, Republic of Ireland, Costa Rica, and Australia. The PLC is located in Moorgate, London.

On September 7, 2006 SportingBet reported that its chairman, Peter Dicks, was detained in New York City on a Louisiana warrant while traveling in the United States on business unrelated to online gaming. [cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/07/ap/business/mainD8K05EU80.shtml |author=Adam Goldman |title=Sportingbet PLC Chairman Detained in NYC |publisher=CBS News |date=2006-09-26 |accessdate=2007-09-12] Louisiana is one of the few states that has a specific law prohibiting gambling online. The arrest comes two months after the arrest of David Carruthers, CEO of rival betting company, BetonSports. On 29 September, Dicks was released from US custody and returned to the UK. He has since stepped down as Chairman of Sportingbet Plc.

In March 2007, all Louisiana warrants involving the company were cancelled. [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6474795.stm |accessdate=2007-09-12 |date=2007-03-21 |author=BBC News Online |title=Sportingbet warrants cancelled]

In October 2006, Sportingbet announced Paradise Poker would stop taking deposits from US customers, although most would be allowed to continue to play for another month. [cite web |url=http://www.paradisepoker.com/news/us_legislation.html |author=Paradise Poker |title=US Gaming Legislation Information |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20061028003914/http://www.paradisepoker.com/news/us_legislation.html |archivedate=2006-10-28] Additionally, Sportingbet sold all its US-facing sportsbetting and casino businesses, including Sportsbook.com and Sports.com, to a group of private investors for $1, and an assumption of $13.2 million in debts. [ [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-10-13T074214Z_01_N12254975_RTRUKOC_0_UK-LEISURE-SPORTINGBET.xml Reuters: Sportingbet exits U.S. by selling out for $1] ]

In February 2007, Sportingbet announced it was eliminating its Paradise Poker software and migrating players from there to its Sportingbet Poker platform. Prior to this, the two platforms had approximately the same number of players, but the Sportingbet platform had higher liquidity because that platform was part of a larger network. The brand name of Paradise Poker will be retained. [ [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-02-09T101331Z_01_WLB4744_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SPORTINGBET-BOSS-MEDIA.xml Reuters: Sportingbet writes off gaming software in new deal] ]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.sportingbet.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.sportingbetplc.com/ Corporate site]