ONLINE casino 888 is likely to come to the stock market at the end of the month at a substantially reduced price after recent scares that the internet gambling and web poker bubble may be about to burst.

The company, which specialises in online roulette and blackjack, announced its intention to float a fortnight ago when advisers suggested it was looking for a value of about Pounds 700 million.

However, since then PartyGaming, the giant of the new sector, has announced a sharp slowdown in growth and seen billions wiped off its market capitalisation.

Today 888 published an indicative price range of between 162p and 212p for a float in a fortnight's time, which will value the company at between Pounds 546 million and Pounds 714 million.

While this will still make a staggering stack of up to Pounds 200 million for Gibraltar-based 888's Israeli founders, reports during the summer suggested that 888's brokers were counselling on a float that could value the company at as much

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