Anyone holding these? Evil K drove the price right down and now they seem to be recovering---are they worth considering now they seem to have sorted out their finances?

cynic just does not like gaming shares. He likes a few minos and the rest all in gold solid stocks. which there is nothing wrong with that all to ones own. I still have prty 888 and sbt. Good luck.

Sp up 5p on news:

*SPORTINGBET REPORTS 'AMICABLE RESOLUTION' IN LOUISIANA, WARRANTS CANCELLED "

this is really good news for us

At the very least it means that BWIN won't do what Ladbrokes has done to 888 & pull out of a takeover just because the Directors might still be liable for prosecution. This should clear a possible hurdle.

And down 10% already:

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - "Sportingbet PLC said discussions with Austria-based online gaming firm Bwin Interactive Entertainmnet AG regarding a possible acquisition of Sportingbet have been 'mutually and amicably discontinued'.

Sportingbet announced in March that it was in talks with Bwin on the matter.

At 11.10 am, shares in Sportingbet were trading at 52-3/4 pence, down 5-1/2.

Analysts had believed an offer in the region of 60-65 pence per share, valuing the business at over 260 mln stg, was a possibility.

Last month, Sportingbet's chief executive Andy McIver told Thomson Financial News that talks between the two parties had been protracted due to 'complex legal, regulatory and operational issues'.

'Both parties decided to terminate the discussion. As a result of regulatory and legal changes in a number of markets in which both BWIN and Sportingbet operate, and not just ones with European Union borders, we have not been able to agree on terms,' said Konrad Sveceny, head of Investor Relations at BWIN."

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - "Sportingbet PLC said it was not yet aware of the likely impact from the cancelled Australian race meetings over the weekend and coming week.

The cancellation follows a short term federal travel ban on horse movements across most of Australia, following an outbreak of equine influenza in certain states there.

The company, which expects the racing to resume over the coming weeks, said a short-term suspension of the horse racing industry in this region will not materially impact its full-year performance.

The group also said it has traded in line with its expectations during the first four weeks of the new financial year, with all major European soccer leagues having now commenced.

Sportingbet will announce its results for the year ended July 31 on Oct 17."

sbt back on the way up again are any of you still in there?

I think 50p +/- is about the best you can hope for on this bounce.
Keep taking profit as I can see no immediate reason for this to keep going up.

i can...like massive profits

When BWIN were thinking of taking over SBT, Andy McIver said that if the company had been worth 80p a share then that is what he would have expected the sp to reach. It didn't & it wasn't! Hence approx 60p a share was what he was asking. IMO that hasn't yet changed.

Just an extract from today's RNS, which may hopefully stimulate interest in the gaming sector again:

"Dresdner Kleinwort says profitable European online sports betting operations, particularly without a land-based presence, 'remain few and far between'.

As such, it believes Sportingbet could again prove an 'attractive bid option' in the near future despite the breakdown in the Bwin talks.

Dresdner Kleinwort added that the company has already demonstrated the profitability of its remaining non-US business."

Four trades of 6 million shares each just gone through, yet little effect on the sp.

Two director buys today @41p totalling 150,000 shares, plus total day's trades of 11.2 million shares.
I wonder if McGiver still values the company at around 60p per share?

"Sportingbet Plc will be announcing second quarter results for the three months
and cumulative results for the six months ended 31 January 2008 on Tuesday, 4
March 2008. There will be a presentation for analysts and investors at 09.30 at
Sportingbet's offices, 45 Moorfields, London EC2Y 9AE."

There seems to be a bit more interest now in all of the gaming stocks, particularly SBT & 888. Perhaps, as suggested in Shares mag recently, these stocks are unlikely to suffer in the event of a recession, as gamblers will continue regardless.

"LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Shares in Sportingbet PLC pushed higher in midafternoon trade bolstered by rumours the online betting firm could be the recipient of a 70 pence a share bid as early as next week.

At 3.00 pm, Sportinbet shares were 4-14 pence higher at 45-3/4, while the FTSE Small Cap index was down 1.6 points at 3,227.4.

Traders said no names had been mentioned regarding a potential bidder for the UK firm but suggested that Austrian gaming firm Bwin Interactive Entertainmnet AG could be looking to revive its takeover interest."

"VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - BWIN Interactive Entertainment AG does not want to comment on 'market rumours' it is mulling a new bid for its British peer Sportingbet PLC, a company spokesman told Thomson Financial News.

The Sunday Express newspaper reported this weekend that its undisclosed sources expect BWIN to place a bid of 70 pence a share for Sportingbet within the next few weeks.

BWIN tabled a 65 pence a share offer for Sportingbet in March 2006, but talks between the online gaming providers collapsed four months later.

At the time, BWIN attributed the collapse of the talks to the fact that regulatory and legal changes in a number of markets in which the companies operated made it impossible for them to agree on terms."

No bid news but sbt seem to be recovering strongly--I picked up a small number yesterday before 3rd qtr figures in early June.

I think 'strongly' is a little bit too bullish.

I wish it would though cause I'm sitting on a loss atm!

This may now cause a temporary drop in the sp:
"Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement dated 1 March 2007 (the 'Agreement') between Maslin Properties Limited ('Maslin') and a Sportingbet subsidiary, the Company has today issued and allotted 5,882,353 Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company ('Ordinary Shares') to Maslin, as a result of further performance based targets being met.
Under the terms of the Agreement, Maslin is entitled to further issuances of Ordinary Shares up to 31 December 2008, should subsequent performance targets be met. The maximum remaining number of Ordinary Shares capable of being issued under the terms of the Agreement is a further 11.8 million Ordinary Shares.
The Ordinary Shares have been issued and have been subsequently placed by Daniel Stewart & Co with institutional investors at a price of 42.0p. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for these Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading, which is expected to take place on 16 May 2008."

I think that news broke a day or so ago and I noticed the sp go down from 46.5p to 43p the previous day so I guess it is already in the price.