GOOD TRADING REPORT FROM 888.COM

13 July 2007

Gibraltar-based online gambling group "confident" about its prospects for the rest of the year

The Gibraltar-bsed online gambling group 888 Holdings plc said on Thursday that first half trading was in line with expectations and that it is "confident" about its prospects for the rest of the year.

The company plans to announce its interim results on September 10.

Online gambling companies have struggled since last October when a new law passed by Congress stopped US residents from making financial transactions with Internet gambling companies. Up to then, Americans had accounted for 55 per cent of 888's sales.

Although the growing popularity of online poker in the rest of the world lifted net gaming revenues by 19 percent to $47 million in the first quarter, 888 has been the subject of persistent bid speculation since October, reports the Financial Times in reviewing the trading report.

The group was in talks with Ladbrokes for six months over a possible acquisition but the bricks-and-mortar gambling group abandoned talks with its online rival in April amid fears that its potential US legal liabilities could rebound on Ladbrokes in the future.

Gigi Levi, 888 chief executive, said after the talks were terminated that the group would be looking at possible acquisitions of its own.

The group bought Globalcom's online bingo business for $43 million in April.

888 said last month that it had begun talks with US justice authorities in an attempt to lift the threat of any possible action against the company for its dealings in the US. The group gave no indication as to the progress of those talks in its trading update on Thursday.

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