Stanley in GBP700m Merger Talks Rival LCI

Stanley Leisure have been talking with rival UK Casino operator London Clubs International about a GBP700m merger and if successful would create one of the UKs largest gambling groups. Talks about who command this new industry leader are still at an early stage.
Stanley shareholders are likely to insist that there main man a Mr Bob Wiper takes the helm, but this would leave questions about the future of LCI's chief executive, Bill Timmins.
The proposed tie-up comes after a year of speculation that the Malaysian conglomerate Genting, that owns a large stake in both firms would engineer such a merger.
Genting owns nearly 30pc of LCI's shares, while it is Stanley's second-biggest shareholder, with a stake of 12pc.
Stanley Leisure operates 40 regional Casino sites and Crockfords casino in Mayfair, is already the UK's largest operator. Stanley has increased its number of outlets through a series of small deals. Only last week Stanley bought the Harbour House Casino in Southampton for £5.9m.
A merger with rival operator LCI, would be the biggest deal to date for Mr Bob Wiper, who has pushed the casino side of the business since selling Stanley's betting shops to William Hill last year.
Mr Bob Wiper made a move for LCI three and a half years ago when LCI was reeling from a disastrous investment in Las Vegas, but had his £250m takeover approach rebuffed. LCI has recently enjoyed a revival in fortunes, with the market welcoming the sale of its Les Ambassadeurs flagship club in Mayfair.



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Stan James Snaps Up Harbour House

One of the biggest UK Casino operators, Stanley Leisure, known as Stan James, yesterday spent GBP5.9 million for their new acquisition of the Harbour House casino group.
This new purchase of the Southampton based casino operator is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Stanley Leisure, who are based in Liverpool and earlier this year Stanley Leisure applied for another new casino license in the Southampton area.
Speaking about the this acquisition, a spokesperson for Stanley Leisure said, This new casino, combined with the Stanley Southampton casino, will allow Stanley to cover a broader spectrum of the local market and will immediately enhance Stanley's presence in Southampton.



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Fairground Gaming Buy Spin Palace Casino

Fairground Gaming, an online gaming investent company has announced the completion of the acquisition of Spin Palace Group for an initial fee of 10 million U.S. dollars.
Commenting on the acquisition, Chief Executive Officer for Fairground gaming, Evan Hoff said: 'The acquisition of The Spin Palace Group represents the first step towards implementing our strategy of consolidation, which was outlined when we first admitted to AIM in October 2005. We continue to have discussions with various companies to determine whether they fit our investment criteria.'
In accordance with the acquisition of The Spin Palace Group, the vendor, Roundit Limited, has assigned all of its right, title, benefit and interest in the acquisition agreement to its parent, Seahouses Holdings Limited with immediate effect.

New Casino for Manchester

A new casino is set to open in Manchester this October and is aimed for the more sophisticated and upmarket gambler.
The new casino is called Manchester 235 and is set to creat 350 jobs, this is a £13 million development by London Clubs International is in Manchester’s Great Northern Warehouse and is designed to be a little different from the normal casino.
Featuring 10 blackjack, 14 Roulette tables and a poker room that doubles as a conference room also this new casino will have two restaurants and a live music venue offering live entertainment seven days a week.
This new development by London Clubs International is not affected by the new gambling laws because its license was granted before the Gambling Act 2005, and an LCI spokesperson said they had already identified a new, more sophisticated generation of gamblers which they were hoping to tap into.

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William Hill Sees Big Bets Big Brother

A spokesperson from William Hill Bookies said that we have been surprised by the amount of early support for Suzie, but it seems that viewers already think of the other housemates as celebrities and are therefore backing Suzie as they did with Chantelle.
Within hours of going into the Big Brother House Suzie has received unprecedented backing at bookmakers William Hill.
The Big Brother golden ticket holder has had more than £10,000 wagered on her to win the Channel 4 reality TV show including a single bet of £1,000 at odds of 14/1.
William Hill is all but certain that Grace will be the next housemate to be evicted and offer 1/2 that she is nominated on Monday.
Current Big Brother winner odds 12-06-06:
•8/13 Pete
•3/1 Glyn
•7/1 Nikki
•14/1 Suzie
•20/1 Richard / Mikey
•25/1 Imogen / Aisleyne
•33/1 Lisa
•40/1 Lea
•50/1 Grace
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GBP60 Free World Cup Bet

A great offer from VC Bet UK just open an account with VC Bet between 5th June and the 19th June and we will match your first bet with a free bet up to a maximum of GBP60, or equivalent currenc.
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World Cup Fever Hits UK

The World Cup has long been acknowledged as the most popular, and most watched sporting event on the planet, and this year its appeal is reaching further than ever, news that isn’t lost on the online UK casino industry.
With sports betting and props wagering being huge areas of business in the world of online gambling, it comes as no surprise that the online casino industry is therefore cashing in big time on the World Cup. A total of 64 games will be played, by 32 teams from around the world, and with 3 games per day in the group stages, online casinos are preparing themselves for a betting frenzy.
The tournament in Germany will be screened live around the globe to millions of viewers rooting for their national teams, and with many online casinos taking advantage of this sports betting opportunity, there will be plenty of options for fans wishing to place bets and wagers on their favourite teams.
The odds are currently on tournament favourites Brazil to bring the trophy home for a record sixth time, whilst England, Argentina, France, Italy and Germany are also well backed front-runners at the sports betting online casinos.

UK Casino 32Red Acquires Bet Direct

Top UK Casino 32Red has announced it has acquired Bet Direct, one of the largest independent internet and telephone betting businesses in the UK, for £12.5 million. In addition, the company has placed over 5 million shares with certain institutional investors at 120p a share. The aim is to raise upwards of £6 million to fund the acquisition. The rest will be funded from new bank facilities and existing cash reserves.
“The acquisition of Bet Direct fits the strategic objectives of 32Red extremely well providing a much enlarged customer database and the ability to offer the full portfolio of betting and gaming products through a variety of distribution channels,” said Ed Ware. CEO of 32Red. “Our combined UK focus has enabled both management teams to identify areas of marketing cross-over, areas for review and customer recruitment and retention opportunities.”
32Red hopes that the acquisition will enhance earnings to the end of the year December 31 2007. In the meantime, the company is also hoping that it will help consolidate their position in the market.

Coventry cries foul

The Millennium Dome, Wembley Stadium, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Blackpool, Newcastle and Sheffield are all in but one very angry Coventry MP is set to meet the UK’s culture minister in an attempt to revive his city’s Super Casino bid.
The bid from the city of Coventry was not one of the eight shortlisted for the next round of deliberation, despite constant displays of confidence from the bid’s leaders.
Coventry City council said it was in a state of shock after the results of the preliminary review.
MP Geoffrey Robinson has announced publicly that the UK Casino Advisory panel made a grave mistake by not selecting a single bid from the Midlands for the shortlist, and has demanded they reconsider.
The local MP has arranged to meet Tessa Jowell the secretary of state for culture.

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