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Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Limited
Sunday Times (London)

February 27, 2005, Sunday

HEADLINE: Online poker: The facts

BYLINE: Matthew Goodman

BODY:
* Estimated average number of poker players online in January 2005: 1.8m

* Estimated number of online poker rooms on the internet: 256

* Amount lost worldwide by online gamblers in 2004: £4.1 billion

* Daily commission generated by online poker companies: £2.3m

* Online poker's estimated share of total worldwide online gambling revenues: 20%

* Top online poker site: PartyPoker.com (owned by Party Gaming), with market share of about 50%. It could float later this year with a valuation that might exceed

$ 4 billion, according to analysts

* Other poker sites expected to float: Pacific Poker, part of 888.com and owned by Cassava Enterprises.

* Percentage increase in Sportingbet's share price since buying Paradise Poker: 140%.

It has a market value of £1.03 billion

* Number of online poker games per second hosted by Sportingbet: 10

* Poker is the world's most popular card game. It is estimated that up to 80m people play it in America alone

Sources: Pokerpulse.com; Durlacher; Datastream

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