News in brief: Harrah's Entertainment; Ladbrokes; Loto-Quebec; iGame; the Tote...
Harrah's Entertainment has pulled plans for a US$575m share offering in New York...
p> Harrah’s Entertainment has pulled plans for a US$575m (£360m) share offering in New York, citing weak investor demand. On Friday eGaming Review reported that Harrah’s had delayed its IPO of 9.3% of its stock until today, however over the weekend the casino operator, that is changing its corporate name to Caesar’s Entertainment, announced it had reversed its decision to float but added that it would keep its options open to a future offering. The news comes only a day after the successful listing of US car manufacturer General Motors. The Financial Times reported the cancellation of Harrah’s proposed IPO was due to price reasons and investors balking at paying around US$15 a share. Harrah’s was seeking to raise US$500m by selling 31.25 million shares at between US$15 and US$17 each. The company reported a net loss of US$165m in the third quarter; this was mostly associated with its 2008 leveraged buyout by private equity houses TPG and Apollo, which will retain their controlling stake of 81% of the company.
Ladbrokes has “formally withdrawn” from the bid process for the Victoria wagering and sports betting licence in Australia, a spokesman told the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. This leaves Tabcorp and Tatts in the race for the 12-year exclusive licence to operate off-course betting shops and sports betting facilities in the state from 2012. Citing “sources close to the negotiations”, the paper said state government delays had played a major role in Ladbrokes’s decision to pull out of the bidding process.
Canadian state lottery operator Loto-Quebec has launched its online gambling site, espacejeux.com. The site went live on 19 November and is open for customers to pre-register until 1 December. Registered members will then be able to play online. Loto-Quebec has partnered with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation to offer a poker platform, which will go live at the start of next year. British Columbia was the first province to launch an online gaming site, PlayNow.com, however only days after it launched it was taken down due to a security breach. The site was then restored almost a month later and is now fully operational. Loto-Quebec’s platform is jointly provided by GTech subsidiary G2, while its customer account management software is provided by OpenBet. The new site will also offer games such as Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette. Sports betting and bingo are planned to be added at a later date. In October eGaming Review reported that The Canadian province of Nova Scotia was had decided against following British Columbia in sanctioning its lottery to offer online gambling to its citizens.
iGame is to appoint Entraction chief operating officer Tobias Fagerlund as its new chief executive following its acquisition last year of Entraction’s Casagaming operations for 4.5m (£3.85m). Fagerlund will start his new role as CEO of the Malta-based business in January 2011, replacing Jani Tekoniemi, who will remain with iGame as chairman. iGame offers various gaming products to sites including 24hpoker.com and Casinohuone.com.
Inspired Gaming has launched a ‘Gold Package’ of its virtual sports games aimed at small and medium-sized operators. European operator Bet1128 went live with the package this week.
The UK Government is now willing to sell off the Tote in parts, including splitting the online and retail arms of the business, in order to boost interest in purchasing the state-owned horse racing and sports betting business, reported This Is Money this morning. Investment bank Lazards, which is handling the sale, sent out memos last week to interested parties including Gala Coral, Sportech and William Hill. Paddy Power, Betfred and several private equity houses have also been linked with a move for the business, currently valued at around £200m.