888 Sales Rise as Casino Games Bring in More Players

888 Holdings Plc, the U.K.'s second- largest online gaming company, said fourth-quarter sales rose 55 percent after more gamblers bet on casino games and poker. Sales climbed to $62.8 million from $40.5 million a year earlier, the Gibraltar-based company said today in a statement. This year's first quarter ``started strongly,'' according to 888, the owner of the Casino On Net and Pacific Poker brands.

Last year was the company's first full year without any business in the U.S. after a 2006 law barred foreign betting Web sites, cutting 888 off from its main market. To keep sales rising, the company is adding sports betting to its array of games in Europe in the current quarter with partner Rank Group Plc and introducing an online casino and wagers on sports in Asia.

``Casino was the star,'' Richard Carter, an analyst at Numis Securities in London, said of the fourth quarter, which he described as ``very strong.'' Numis, which has a ``buy'' rating on 888, had estimated revenue of $56 million for the quarter, Carter said in a note.

The company had 4.7 million registered accounts at the end of the quarter, up from 3.6 million a year earlier. 888 rose 8 pence, or 6.1 percent, to 139.5 pence in London. The shares cost 175 pence each in the September 2005 initial public offering and slid 30 percent in the following year as U.S. legislators unexpectedly approved the ban. The stock has lost 1.8 percent this year after gaining 7.2 percent in 2007.

Fourth-quarter sales from casino games increased 60 percent to $35 million, while poker revenue gained 16 percent to $21.4 million. Casino and poker sales per so-called active customer rose 26 percent to $270. Prior-year revenue excludes the U.S., where foreign online-gambling companies can no longer take bets.

``This was a transformational year,'' Chief Executive Officer Gigi Levy said in a telephone interview. ``These are very good results that we think show our strategy is delivering.''

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