Hampton/Portofino and Rising Star Gaming Ltd.

[sirius]

I saw this new press release yesterday on my site. It's confusing since I thought Hampton and Portofino were sold after the Caribbean21 Pirate story. These two casinos are certainly not reputable and I thought they were also no longer connected with the original buyers/acquirers (connectto):

Rising Star Gaming Ltd. and Hampton Portofino Group today announced that they have completed the sale of Hampton Casino (hamptoncasino.com) and Portofino Casino (portofinocasino.com). Under the terms of the agreement 100% of the shares in Hampton Portofino Group, S.A. will be transferred to Rising Star Gaming, Ltd. Rising Star Gaming has paid an undisclosed cash payment to HPG for its interest in these two casinos.

Hampton Casino and Portofino Casino were launched in the summer of 2000. They were both listed among the top most popular online casinos by Casino City Press. Hampton and Portofino Casinos have been player favorites for the past five years. Their generous bonus policy and rich player experience made this pair a popular online destination for gamblers. Their robust database and their steady cash flow made them a very attractive offer for Rising Star Gaming.

Rising Star Gaming is committed to offering continued superior customer care and exciting user experience. The company is planning on launching Hampton Portofino Partners, a new affiliate program that will not only offer revenue shares as high as 50%, but will also pay affiliates $25 for every new player that they deliver to the casinos.

Rising Star Gaming is a private equity fund focused on acquiring and managing companies that provide gaming entertainment services on the internet.

"We are thrilled about adding such blue chip properties to our recently launched portfolio," said George Klein, VP of Investor Relations of Rising Star Gaming. The rapid expansion of the online gaming market still provides ample opportunities for investors to generate strong double or even triple digit growth. Rising Star Gaming is pursuing an aggressive acquisition strategy to build up a solid and diversified asset base prior to a planned initial public offering.

[Casinomeister]

I saw this new press release yesterday on my site. It's confusing since I thought Hampton and Portofino were sold after the Caribbean21 Pirate story. These two casinos are certainly not reputable and I thought they were also no longer connected with the original buyers/acquirers (connectto):

They were sold, and now they were just sold again to the "Windows" clan. By the way, didn't know you had a part in this:
http://www.siriusplayers.com/

- just kidding

[Casinomeister]

Just updated this section:
http://www.casinomeister.com/rogue/windowscasino.html

The Windows "clones" and associated sites have grown from about 198 last year to over 300 now. It may behoove players to take note of these sites (full listing included) and how to spot a Windows clone. Most of them still sport Safebet and eGaming logos. What a joke.

And the joke is on the player.

[Casinomeister]

The $million dollar question is - who is purchasing whom? Is windows assimilating the Portifino/Hamptons group like the Borg? Or is Hamptons and Portifino raking in a shitload of sites. Time will tell.

It's hard to know who to trust when you're dealing with these people.

[sirius]

What I didn't understand was that I think this Press Release was from yesterday but the story about the sale to the Windows Casino group was from over a month ago now! I was thinking it was yet another group buying it

[Casinomeister]

___________________BEGIN RELEASE__________________

March 17, 2005 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This is to inform anyone and everyone concerned that as of March 1,
2005 Connectocasino no longer holds any ownership interest in
Hamptoncasino.com and Portofino.com

We have sold our stock in these 2 companies to "Hampton Portofino group" (worldegaming@yahoo.com)

We wish them well with this venture.

___________________END RELEASE_____________________

http://www.casinomeister.com/news/ma....html#changes3

So I guess Rising Star Gaming Ltd. is making a purchase now?? Methinks there are some smoke and mirrors at work here...

[maxlevine]

Who are Rising Star Gaming Ltd? All I'm getting is a new website, yahoo email and their very first purchase.

Max

[Pinababy69]

A casino group uses a yahoo email addy? Wow!

[jetset]

They have a domain based email too, and George Klein answers it promptly.

HAMPTON AND PORTOFINO CHANGE HANDS AGAIN

RTG-powered online casinos bought by private equity fund

Private equity fund Rising Star Gaming Ltd. and Hampton Portofino Group have announced the sale of Hampton Casino.com and Portofino Casino.com to the former.

Under the terms of the agreement 100 percent of the shares in Hampton Portofino Group, S.A. will be transferred to Rising Star Gaming, Ltd in return for an undisclosed cash payment.

Hampton Casino and Portofino Casino were launched in the summer of 2000 and have had a chequered history involving player disputes, particularly the high profile, million dollar plus Pirate of the Caribbean affair.

Only a few weeks ago Connect To Casino advised that effective 1 March it no longer has any relationship with either Portofino or Hampton casinos, having sold its interest to World eGaming. Googling that title revealed that the new owner was Windows Casino investor Avi Goldman.

Rising Star Gaming investor spokesman George Klein says the new owners are committed to offering superior customer care and exciting user experience. The company plans to launch Hampton Portofino Partners, a new affiliate program that will not only offer revenue shares as high as 50 percent, but will also pay affiliates $25 for every new player that they deliver to the casinos.

Rising Star Gaming is a private equity fund focused on acquiring and managing companies that provide gaming entertainment services on the internet. According to Klein, Rising Star Gaming is pursuing an aggressive acquisition strategy to build up a solid and diversified asset base prior to a planned initial public offering.

Answering specific InfoPowa questions, Klein said that Hampton and Portofino would continue to use Real Time Gaming software and that the current management team would stay in place. He also revealed that RSG would continue to operate on a Costa Rican business licence although there may be a move to a European jurisdiction on the cards.

As we went to press several sources reported that Rising Sun was also engaged in negotiations to purchase Windows Casino, an RTG-powered operation in which Tony Friedman and Avi Goldman have interests.

There are some interesting Hungarian connections here (that's where Tony Friedman of Windows is reputed to operate from)

This may be another of those "Oh, what a tangled web we weave" cases.