Some days ago 888 made public the fact that they were in talks with "unspecified firms" about a takeover. Today the Gibraltar based British bookmaker Ladbrokes revealed that they are one of these firms. Analysts peg the deal at around £470m, but Ladbrokes was quick to stress that no agreement was imminent. 888 and indeed Party Gaming suffered greatly when they were forced to shed American customers & hence up to 75% of their income after the US Federal government introduced a law designed to effectively block online gaming for Americans. These new laws also caused a stock price tumble in the gaming sector on the LSE. Partygaming shares decreased in value by around 70% and 888 by close to 25%. Analysts predicted a period of acquisition both by and of the larger online gaming companies. But chances are that we will see other groups moving in for opportunistic purchases. This may suit 888's key shareholders nicely, and in fact it was reported in the London newspaper The Mail that certain larger stake holders may prefer someone other than a direct online gaming competitor acquire them.

Some readers will remember a certain Las Vegas casino's foray into the online world a few years ago. In short the whole exercise was a fruitless and costly, as this operator decided more