Picking a gaming stock

ericlambi · #1 01-10-2005, 03:06 PM

Hey folks,

I am taking an Investments class for my MBA program and we have to pick a stock to track for the quarter. I am addicted to poker, so I figure I might as well pick a gaming stock. I'm looking through the Yahoo financial stuff, and see that MGM Mirage was recently rated by Forbes as one of the best run businesses in the US, so that seems to be a decent choice. But what about online poker sites? Are any of them publicly traded? They of course have more risk than MGM, but seem to have a much bigger upside. But I couldn't find any big ones that were publicly traded. Is this accurate?

I noticed that cryptologic is publicly traded and doing well, but from what I can gather their software does not run any of the bigger sites (PartyPoker, UltimateBet, PokerStars, etc.).

Any suggestions, sources for info, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Eric Lambi

fluff · #2 01-10-2005, 07:27 PM

None of those companies you mention are traded publicly. However Paradise Poker was recently acquired by Sportingbet, and they trade under SBT.L in the London AIM exchange.

Waterproof · #3 01-11-2005, 10:29 PM

Saw the chart for SBT.L... God, I would have loved to get in this a year ago... any idea where I could find some financials? yahoo has nothing on this company...

CCx · #4 01-11-2005, 10:31 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Saw the chart for SBT.L... God, I would have loved to get in this a year ago... any idea where I could find some financials? yahoo has nothing on this company...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, go here and pick 'investor information'

about sportsbook.com

Waterproof · #5 01-11-2005, 11:22 PM

LOL. nice cross post...

I just read though some of the annual report... looks like they spent a ton of money on acquisitions. (124 million in goodwill)

Can't believe their costs are 2.35 pounds per bet... seems really high, they must get a lot of action to cover these costs...

Also I thought it was funny that they kept saying that their business is designed for recreational gamblers (the average gambler's deposit is $60), but they offer a sports pager if you deposit $2k or more on their site.

Not exactly sure how to read these British statements, but it looks like they have 20 million in cash and owe 58 million in debt within the next year… I can’t see how this could be true unless England learned nothing from our bull market bubble…

Anyway, I’m going to start tracking it… thanks for the link.

Any insight from others? I know almost nothing about the London exchange... except they have no Sarbanes... luck bastards [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]