Paradise to Boss

Sportingbet Plc, the online gaming giant and the owner of Paradise Poker has announced that it will be staying on the Boss network.

Boss Media AB is one of the leading leading suppliers of systems for digitally distributed gaming software.

As part of a new three year casino and poker contract, Sportingbet will continue to use Boss software to power both its casino and poker offerings for its European based websites.

In addition, Sportingbet will combine its Paradise Poker players with the Boss network further enhancing the player liquidity pool.

Sportingbet will retain the Paradise Poker brand and migrate all Paradise players to Boss in due course.

During the three months ended 31 October 2006, rake from the Boss powered European poker platform amounted to £4.3m, up 72% year on year.

The combination of the two poker businesses will provide some cost savings for the Group, however this may be offset by the loss of revenue that could occur as a result of migrating players from one platform to another.

The redundancy of the Group’s Paradise Poker software will result in a further exceptional cost of approximately £55m representing the write-off of the remaining carrying value of this asset and associated costs.

Andrew McIver, Sportingbet Group Chief Executive, said: “This deal combines all our poker players in one destination, maximising liquidity whilst reducing the complexity of running two separate poker operations. The addition of the Paradise Poker players to the Boss poker network will make the Boss network one of the largest in Europe.”

While Johan Berg, Boss Media Chief Executive Officer said: “The partnership with Sportingbet is material to the success of Boss Media and is one very important reason that we are one of the leading providers of e-Gaming software. The strengthened partnership will enable the two companies to work together to bring second to none e-Gaming products to the market.”