Paradise Has Been Sold to Sporting Bet

[daveymck]

Info at http://www.thisismoney.com

Here's the full text.

Acquisition of Paradise Poker and Placing of 54,545,454 New Ordinary Shares at 110 pence per share

Summary

- Sportingbet today announces that it has agreed to acquire Paradise Poker, one of the four largest internet poker sites, for an initial consideration of US$297.5 million (£169.1 million), comprising the payment of US$193.3 million (£105.2 million) in cash and the issue to the Vendors of 56,677,388 Ordinary Shares

- Established in 1999, Paradise Poker has an estimated market share, by customer numbers, of approximately 10 per cent. As at 31 July 2004, Paradise Poker had over 721,000 registered customers and over 97,000 active customers

- Paradise Poker has experienced substantial growth in rake and tournament fee income during 2004 generating turnover and operating profit of US$37.2 million and US$21.3 million for the seven months ended 31 July 2004.Of the initial cash consideration, US$10 million is being held in escrow and will be released if Paradise Poker's profits reach US$44.4 million for the 12 months ending December 2004

- Additional consideration of up to US$50 millio n (£27.2 million) is payable in cash and shares depending on the profitability of Paradise Poker in the next three years. Further bonus consideration of 10 per cent. of the cumulative profits of Paradise Poker in excess of US$150 millionin the next three years is also payable in cash

- The initial cash consideration will be satisfied by new debt facilities from Barclays Bank totaling £90 million and the proceeds of the Vendor Placing of 44,156,454 New Ordinary S hares with institutional and other investors. In addition, the Company is also undertaking a Cash Placing of 10,389,000 New Ordinary Shares. The Issue Price for the Placing, which has been fully underwritten by Dresdner Bank AG, is 110 pence per share

- The Board believes that the Acquisition of Paradise Poker by Sportingbet will:

- Enhance Sportingbet's product offering and provide a critical mass online poker product which will maximise Sportingbet's growth potential and provide an additional and growing profits stream

- Provide significant cross-selling opportunities across the enlarged customer base

- Create the only global combined online sports betting and poker business

- Significantly enhance Sportingbet's earnings per share (before goodwill amortisation) in the current year and thereafter

Commenting on the Acquisition, Nigel Payne, Chief Executive of Sportingbet, said:

'Our strategy is to become the world's leading online sports betting and gaming based entertainment business. The acquisition of Paradise Poker is a significant step forward in achieving this goal and transforms the Sportingbet Group. Poker is a significant growth market and will play a key role in the consolidation of the online gaming industry. As a responsible and transparent operator, we have a real opportunity to leverage Paradise Poker's critical mass and provide customers of the combined group with leading sports betting, casino, bingo, gaming and poker products under one roof with a 'shared purse' so that customers have a single user name, password and account.'

[ChristinaB]

Lets hope they bring in some marketing people who can really bring in the fish. Paradise could be a fantastic competitor to Party.

[Malificent]

Considering how much SportingBet's current poker room sucks, I can't decide whether this is a good thing or not.

[ChristinaB]

[ QUOTE ]
Considering how much SportingBet's current poker room sucks, I can't decide whether this is a good thing or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

That doesn't sound good. What sucks about the site?

If it is poor software then maybe we can hope they put off a fix until they could acquire Paradise.

If its customer service/marketing, then this could be bad news if their management style spreads to Paradise.

[mistrpug]

[ QUOTE ]
Considering how much SportingBet's current poker room sucks, I can't decide whether this is a good thing or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe that's why they bought Paradise...

[JasonM]

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Create the only global combined online sports betting and poker business

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like a long term bad idea.

[Rudbaeck]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Create the only global combined online sports betting and poker business

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like a long term bad idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

It also sounds like they need to nuke some existing sports book/poker combinations.

[craig r]

I have heard a lot of bad things about sportingbet just as a sportsbook. maybe they cleared all the problems up though. i just heard about people not getting paid (and sportsbookreview.com does not rate them very high either).

[Tosh]

Will that mean lowering the minimum age to 18 to play there?

[_And1_]

"Create the only global combined online sports betting and poker business"

They might be the only company that thought about this combination, oh no wait... they have competitors, damn it...

[Blarg]

I thought both Eurobet and Bodog already had this going. No idea how many more.

[Malificent]

Its pretty much software. Slowest I've played on, no real features, irritating timing issues, no multitabling, the list goes on and on. Plus they are on the "you must see the flop for your hand to count as raked" bandwagon. I was/am chasing a bonus there - I signed up through ecasinodeals and I'm getting some free poker chips plus SportingBet's bonus. Although, since it will take an extra 250 raked hands where I see the flop to get their $70, I'll probably be stopping after I get enough to get my chips.

The upside at the moment is that the players are *incredibly* bad. 80-90% seeing the flop, coldcalling any number of raises, etc etc. I'm probably up 5-6 BB/100 there and might be more if I didn't play looser than normal to get more hands qualified so I can get the hell out. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Their customer service for the pokerroom has been efficient as far as I can tell. There is no way to determine how many hands you've played that qualify without e-mailing them, and their response has been quick each time.

I can hope that they will keep Paradise intact and not change a whole lot, because Paradise is a big step up from what they currently have.

[TylerD]

I can't see them changing the software, they have to realise its probably the best/2nd best on the net. I'm a little worried that the rake structure will get worse, but that fear is offset by the strong possibility of loads of fish swimming in from the sportsbook. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'm cautiously optimistic.

[lorinda]

The prospect of not hearing "Don't be a pussy, play Ladbrokes.com" any more and hearing "Come to poker paradise" is rather mouth-watering too.

(UK tv ads for those who don't get it)

Lori

[GrannyMae]

i would guess that the REAL prize in this purchase is paradise's software. i don't think there is any question which client will be used, just whether it will all be combined.

[GrannyMae]

i apologize to anyone who thinks this is spam, but it is important.

i just recieved a PM asking if the sale of paradise will have any effect on my banners (or any other paradise banners across the web) and if the bonus offers will remain the same.

when i had heard about this sale i emailed them and got this back.

<font color="green"> Hi Granny,

Thanks for the email.

The sale will have zero effect on our current relationship, it will be business as usual.

Regards,

Bruce
ParadisePoker.com Marketing </font>

this sale will mean absolutely nothing to current paradise players and affiliates, so clickedy click PLEASE!!
(ok, the please was spammy, but TS)

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/_950/lamer.gif

[soooted]

I hate like Sportingbet as a sportsbook, but I've been waiting a long time for the poker rooms to start offering sports betting. Instead of withdrawing via Neteller and waiting... then depositing, it'd be great to make a sports wager directly from my poker account.

I'm surprised Party hasn't done something similar, even if in partnership agreement.