I'll lay money (sic) that "Grand Hotel" will announce a ban on the 11 States any time now Silcn. Also, English Harbour & Oddson casinos are still up in the air. They are involved in "Leisure & Gaming PLC", who are making (sensible) moves to put their US operations into a privately owned company at the moment, but how long this takes, whether they have to stop meantime I don't know. No official announcement yet, but be aware.
I'm guessing that with Leisure & Gaming (& Sportingbet for that matter who are doing a similar thing), by "sell" they mean a nominal sale to a "Limited" company with certain contractual obligations!
Cheers,
Simmo!
From Casinomeister News on Friday:
L&G MANAGEMENT TO BUY COMPANY
Jobs and shutdown costs saved in move
The chief executive of Britain's
Leisure & Gaming Plc said on Friday he was leading a management buyout of the group's U.S. operations for $1 ahead of prohibition taking force.
Stockdale Investment Ltd, a company set up by chief executive Alistair Assheton, who resigned immediately from his position at L&G, is the vehicle for the sale.
Alistair Assheton commented: "Leisure & Gaming simply could not keep the U.S. business going [as a result of the US legislative action], but it'll be just fine with its Italian business."
"The company saves about $6 million in shutdown costs, and we wanted to protect about 300 jobs in the U.S. operation," he added.
Rival
Sportingbet exited the US market in a similar move, selling off its US operations for $1. Sportingbet, which derives almost two thirds of its business from America, announced the sale of Sportsbook.com, its US-facing sports betting and casino business, to
Jazette Enterprises, a new offshore vehicle set up with Sportsbook management.
Asked by a reporter on the Dow Jones news service whether
888 Holdings.com might go private, too the CEO John Anderson opined, "I think that's got to be looked at." He said all options are being considered, including opportunities to expand the business in Europe.
Excapsa and its poker interests has gone in a similar direction - it has sold its wholly owned subsidiaries
Game Theory Holdings and
Excapsa Services to Malta-based
Blast Off Limited, a privately owned licensee of the Excapsa network. The consideration is to be spread over a period of five and a half years.