BRITAIN'S booming online gambling industry is worth Pounds 300 million, new figures show today.
And it is forecast to reach more than Pounds 600 million by the end of the decade.
Financial experts are comparing it to the notorious dotcom explosion of the late Nineties, when multimillion-pound fortunes were won and lost.
Virtually non-existent less than a decade ago, the market is now expanding at a rate of more than 20 per cent a year. Within five years it is set to outstrip spending on household brands such as Heinz.
The industry received another huge boost today with the announcement that 888.com, one of the best-known online gambling brands, is to float on the stock market. Analysts estimate that the London stock market launch will value the company, best known for its poker games, at Pounds 700 million.
The stake of the founders will be worth around Pounds 630 million.
Simon Champion, research analyst at Deutsche Bank, said: "The internet is perfectly suited to poker. Most of these companies are not seeing any slowdown in their growth at all."
The move follows June's successful Pounds 5.5 billion stock market launch of PartyGaming, the world's biggest Net gambling firm and operator of the PartyPoker site. The UK launch party for PartyPoker.com at Selfridges included Jade Jagger and Val Kilmer among the guests.
Last week, Ladbrokes said its eGaming division had increased its first-half profits by 45 per cent to Pounds 17.5 million. Earnings from its poker games rose 92 per cent.
According to the Remote Gambling Association, the European industry body, 14 million people in Europe are visiting sites every month, up 45 per cent in a year. The British market will be worth more than Pounds 600 million by 2010.
Like many online gaming firms, the parent company of 888.com, Cassava, is based in Gibraltar. It claims to be the world's biggest casino, with 20 million registered players worldwide.
It was founded eight years ago by two pairs of Israeli brothers called Avi and Aaron Shaked and Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak. The business is run by former Ladbrokes director John Anderson, who is to be awarded a one per cent stake, worth about Pounds 7 million.
The flotation of the company, currently making profits of Pounds 100 million a year, is expected to take place this week.
The big wheels in gaming
888.com
Founders: Shaked brothers and Ben-Yitzhak brothers.
Value: about Pounds 700 million.
Financial performance: profits of Pounds 22.7 million.
Betfair
Founders: former City bankers Andrew Black and Edward Wray.
Value: Pounds 800 million to Pounds 1 billion.
Financial performance: operating profits of about Pounds 40 million last year.
PartyPoker
Founders: Indians Anurag Dikshit and Vikrant Bhargava and American couple Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon.
Value: more than Pounds 5 billion.
Financial performance: profits of Pounds 67.5 million in first quarter of 2005.
Sportingbet
Founder: former bookie Mark Blandford.
Value: Pounds 1.2 billion.
Financial performance: expects to make more than Pounds 60 million profit this year.
(c)2005. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
