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Copyright 2004 Centaur Communications
Ltd.
New Media Age
September 2, 2004
HEADLINE: Poker
set to rival sports bets for Ladbrokes online
BODY:
Poker
could soon overtake sports betting in importance for Ladbrokes
on the Internet, according to the company, marking a hugely symbolic
shift in its business.
There are several hundred online
poker rooms, with around $125m (£70m) gambled on them
per day, and the Ladbrokes poker room is among the 10 biggest,
according to statistics from PokerPulse.
The market leader by some distance is PartyPoker,
but almost every online bookmaker has now launched a poker room.
For Ladbrokes the growth is so fast that it's threatening to overtake
the business for which it's best known.
"The sports book business is slightly
bigger than poker, but poker is growing at an incredibly fast
rate," said a company spokesman. "It's growing so fast
it's difficult to see where it will end."
The online sector is already the fastest growing
aspect of the Ladbrokes business in terms of profits and last
week the company unveiled a major management overhaul to deal
with the pressures this growth is creating.
The changes follow a strategic review of its
e-gaming operations in the spring. According to John O'Reilly,
MD of Ladbrokes eGaming, they "reflect the growth pains of
a relatively new business."
ladbrokes.com
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