Will Gatten: Mr. Payne, the appetite for online gambling stocks is at an all time high. We like to think that part of this appetite is driven by shares trading at record levels for companies like Sportingbet PLC. It is also apparent that many companies, including Cassava Enterprises (parent company of 888.com) and Party Poker are getting closer and closer to a London IPO. What measures are you implementing to remain in control of the prominent position you enjoy of? What changes can players expect from the SBT group, that they might find appealing to further or to start a business relationship with you?
Nigel Payne: I think it is great news that companies like Party Gaming and Cassava are looking to list. They are both such great businesses. There are others too like Neteller. I have argued for years that the LSE just does not know how big this industry truly is ? and with three giants potentially on the market this will be good for everyone. It also helps the regulatory debate enormously in the US . Sportingbet today is a FTSE 200 equivalent company in terms of its market capitalization, Cassava may go close to that too. Party will be a FTSE 100 company. It is a phenomenal endorsement to the industry that we have created a situation where the UK government and the LSE fully endorse this. As the first one there, we take a lot of pride in having led this.
In terms of measures, to be honest we are all very different today, and I do not think any specific measures are needed ? at the moment. Party and Cassava effectively have vertical integration strategies wherein they are trying to dominate their field of expertise: poker for Party and computer based gaming for Cassava. And they are both damn good at what they do. Sportingbet has a horizontal strategy wherein we are trying to offer the consumer all online products on our sites, available from one customer account. From live sports through to computer generated lotteries, from real horse racing to backgammon, from poker to Scandinavian ice hockey. What will be interesting will be to see if either Cassava or Party change strategies once listed.
