POWERFUL PARTNERSHIP

26 December 2008

Everest and Victor Chandler to team up in sportsbetting venture

 

Gigamedia, the Taiwan-based parent of Everest Poker and Everest Gaming, has revealed that it has entered into a strategic partnership with the respected and well established Gibraltar-based land and online gambling company Victor Chandler International. The company said the primarily sportsbetting deal would significantly expand the online capability of the Everest Gaming platform.

The partnership includes the launch of a new sportsbetting product dubbed Everest Bets.com, which Gigamedia boasts will deliver a "broader, richer gaming and entertainment experience."

Founded in 1946, Victor Chandler is one of the world's oldest, and most reputable online gaming companies. The firm's sports betting business takes over two million betting calls per year from customers in over 160 countries, 24 hours a day. Licensed in Gibraltar, the group does not accept bets from U.S.-based customers.

Everest Poker has burgeoned into is one of the Internet's more popular poker sites, the official "felt" sponsor of the World Series of Poker, and was named Poker Operation of the Year in 2007 and 2008 by industry journal e-Gaming Review.

"Victor Chandler is a sports betting legend with an enormous, thriving business and an unsurpassed reputation for honor and integrity," said Bob Cahill, head of GigaMedia's gaming software business. "We hit the ground running with a world-class offering addressing a multi-billion dollar market - - we are absolutely thrilled and look forward to additional exciting opportunities with Victor Chandler going forward."

Victor Chandler Chief Executive Michael Carlton commented, "We are delighted to be working with GigaMedia. We are confident we can deliver a product to excite their current poker and games customers. The sports betting product will offer all popular sports in many European languages, and complement Everest's superb poker and casino offering."

The new offering complements Everest's poker and casino verticals, as a significant percentage of Everest's players currently engage in sports betting, according to company surveys. The cross-marketing benefits and enhanced leverage resulting from the strategic partnership are expected to become very substantial.

Everest Bets offers bets on a variety of sports including horse racing, rugby and soccer and is available in multiple languages, 24 hours a day.

Commenting on the partnership, the investment guru at The Motley Fool said that Gigamedia investors are eating up the expansion news. The stock opened with 5 percent higher and was sporting a gain as high as 13 percent a few minutes into the trading day.

"The difference between struggling casino companies and an online player such as GigaMedia is that the latter is still heading in the right direction, fundamentally," the Motley report advised. "Revenue and non-GAAP earnings rose by 16 percent and 22 percent, respectively, at GigaMedia in its latest quarter. That isn't too shabby for a stock trading at just seven times next year's projected profitability. In other words, gambling may be the company's business, but investors aren't taking much of a gamble at these ridiculously low prices."