888 Holding, which operates the world’s largest online casino site, may very well end up as one of the largest online gaming companies in the world. Shai Ben-Yitzhak, co-founder and Random Logic CEO, believes his company will achieve this status by pursuing a strategy of online gaming company acquisitions. In a rare interview with Ben Yitzhak, he once predicted: “In the future, only a few large online gaming companies will exist.”
Jon Anderson, the CEO of 888 Holding, concurs with Ben Yitzhak’s prediction, also suggesting that consolidation would play a key role in the online gaming industry in the coming years, and that the role of 888 Holding in this consolidation would be significant. The company’s current market cap is $1.24 billion.
Last Friday, Anderson offered confirmation of 888 Holding’s plans to acquire a sports betting site when he told “The Times” correspondent Dominic Walsh that that acquisition would likely take place later this year. In the interview, Anderson told “The Times” that he was looking but wasn’t talking to anyone at the moment. He also added that he preferred to focus on Asia and not the United States because online gambling in the U.S. is illegal.
“In terms of a sports book, the one thing I will not be doing is taking bets from American citizens in America, because that’s illegal under the Wire Act,” Anderson said.
When asked about 888 Holding’s biggest rival in the industry, PartyGaming, Anderson seemed unperturbed about the suggestion that PartyGaming’s recent launch of blackjack meant it had overtaken 888 as the world’s biggest Internet casino. “I don’t go around saying mine’s the biggest”, he said.
Posted on: February 9, 2006
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