Luck be a lady for 888

A sharp increase in the number of female gamers has helped internet gaming company 888 Holdings to a 55% increase in fourth quarter revenues.

The Gibraltar-based firm said today its new bingo service, 888ladies - which offers game tutorials, an online community and chat tools - is seeing 'hundreds of new customers' signing up every day.

This is 888 Holding's first full year of trading without any business in the US, after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006 barred foreign online betting sites. This forced web gambling firms to seek new income streams to cover the loss of US revenue.

Sales rose to $62.8m (£32.3m) in the last quarter of 2006, up from $53.4m the previous three months and $40m in the last quarter of 2006.

888 Holdings' chief executive, Gigi Levy, said: "This is a transformational year. These are very good results that we think show our strategy is delivering."

This year, the company also launched the World Poker Crown, a poker tournament with a $3m guaranteed prize, handicapped sport betting for Asia, Lucky Ace poker and Wink Bingo.

Fourth-quarter sales from casino games increased 60% to $35m, while poker revenue gained 16 per cent to $21.4m.

Casino and poker sales per each active customer rose 26% to $270.

888 Holdings also reported that the first quarter of 2008 had started strongly with a rise of 17% in new daily casino and poker players.

News Added: 12 February, 2008

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