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?

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.

Lets hope so, but they will actually appear in the market on the 16th, so a further drop is possible, imo.

By strongly I mean 75% of their business was wiped out by the US fiasco and they have moved into other countries to make this back and are succeeding---lets hope the figures for 3rd qtr confirm this.

Harrycat. It should be like a rights issue eg the share price will adjust well before the shares start trading eg RBS's rights issue shares commence trading on the 9 June but the sp should fall tomorrow because that is the day the Nil paid start trading.

"The Board of Sportingbet has become aware that a number of detentions have been made by authorities in Turkey of people that have been related to Superbahis, the Group's Turkish facing business. In particular, the Board is aware that individuals related to Maslin Properties Limited, the Group's ex-marketing partner in the region, along with a number of their associates have been detained. Additionally, the detainees include 2 UK based Sportingbet employees who are Turkish nationals who had been in the country on vacation.

Sportingbet has received no formal clarification of events from the Turkish authorities, and until more information is received the Board is not in a position to comment on this situation further."

poor old sbt it's battered every way. I thought it was well on it's way to recovery and now this! I'm tempted to add though as it looks like the usual market over reaction!

Be careful, because BWIN may get cold feet over the possible takeover if there are legal wrangles within the business.

up 20%

Following heavy selling yesterday (23m shares traded). Looks like a bit of buying in the bounce.

No. PRTY up 16% at one point, SBT 20% so there are obviously rumours of consolidation in the sector.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - "Sportingbet Plc. said it is confident of meeting full-year expectations after third quarter underlying operating profit increased 143.3 percent to 7.3 million pounds and operating margin hit 17.9 percent from 8.9 percent a year previously.

The online bookmaker added that it sees greater betting volumes stemming from the Euro 2008 football championships but added that the predictable nature of such tournaments can often result in low returns to the bookmaker."

Yes but it also said unfortunately that it's discussions with the USA (over any fine?) may not end favourably.

I don't believe it can be taken over until these discussions are concluded.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) -" Evolution Securities has named Sportingbet Plc. and Sportech Plc. its top picks in the online gaming sector, initiating both with 'buy' ratings.

In a note, the broker said given that the sector is to legitimise and consolidate, it thinks share prices will soar.

It sets a 73 pence price target on Sportingbet and 135 pence target on Sportech, both around double their current share prices."

"Sportingbet Plc will be announcing full year results for the twelve months ended 31 July 2008 on Wednesday, 15 October 2008. There will be a presentation for analysts and investors at 09.30 at the offices of Smithfield Consultants, 10 Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HJ."

MoneyAM: "Sportingbet, the online sports betting and gaming group, today announced net gaming growth of 23%.

In its audited results for the year ended 31st July 2008, the company said net gaming revenue grew 23% to 147m and operating profit more than trebled to 22.7m.

Sports betting net gaming revenue growth of 45% was driven by increased product range and strong performance in Europe and Australia

The company said its strategic review of marketing partners was completed with Spanish and Bulgarian marketing brought in-house.

Sportingbet said it has made a solid start to new financial year, with revenue growth in excess of 30% in first two months.

The company ended the year with net cash of 28.6m."

"Sportingbet today reported pretax profit of 4.9m for the first quarter ended 31st October 2008.

The online sports betting and gaming group revealed net gaming revenue growth up 28% to 38.9m, with sports betting net gaming revenue growth of 34%.

Operating profit was up by 45% to 6.1m. The form had net cash of 19.5m at the period end.

Andrew McIver, Group CEO, commented: 'Performance during August, September and October has provided a solid start to the new financial year with Net Gaming Revenue growing by 28% and operating profit by 45% to 6.1m.

As the business enters its busiest two quarters, our focus will continue to be on the provision of quality and value sports betting services to a globally diversified customer base. This core revenue stream will continue to be supplemented by our additional casino, poker and games offer.

Whilst sports betting has historically shown itself to be 'recession hardy', no industry is 'recession proof'. Unfortunately there is also no empirical data with regard to the online casino and poker industry to estimate what the impact of an economic downturn may or may not be on these products. That said, customer metrics remained very robust both during the quarter and in the four weeks since it ended. As such the Board remains cautiously optimistic in achieving the Group's full year forecast."

"Sportingbet said today trading has been in line with management expectations since the end of the first quarter. The group has completed the move of its European operations to Guernsey and enhanced customer service operations in Dublin.

Q1 results saw growth of 28% year on year in net gaming revenue and a 45% growth in adjusted operating profit to 6.1m for the quarter.

Looking to the balance of the year and beyond, sports betting continues to be the key driver of our business, accounting for 64% of net gaming revenue. Within the sports product offering, the 'in:play' product offering now represents 49% of all sports bets.

At the end of October the group launched live streaming of sport on its websites to further complement this product. Early results are encouraging, Sportingbet said.

In the coming months, the online sports betting company plans to launch websites targeting the South African and Romanian markets.

The company said since the end of the first quarter, trading across the business continues in line with management expectations and it is confident that given the Group's geographic spread, strong sports offering and comprehensive product range it remains in a good position to weather the current economic downturn.' "

It would be nice if the sp rallied though wouldn't it Harry.

No chance in this market :-(

Up 16% today so far, but mystery why. RNS due hopefully today to explain.
Although may just be broker upgrades as both PRTY & 888 are also up, but by a lesser %age.