Sportingbet snaps up Danish firms

The company’s move to buy Danbook Ltd and Scandic Bookmakers Ltd comes two days after Britain’s biggest betting firm Ladbrokes called off takeover talks with Sportingbet on regulatory worries over the latter’s Turkish business.

Sportingbet, which has customers from across Europe, Australia, Canada, South America and South Africa, is expecting the latest deals to close by early next year.

“These acquisitions emphasise Sportingbet’s commitment to generating revenue from regulated markets,” chief executive Andrew McIver said in a statement yesterday.

Denmark has passed legislation that taxes online gambling at a lower rate than physical establishments, which comes into force on January 1, 2012.

Several online gambling companies have been seeking to break national monopolies in a number of European Union countries – a lucrative market producing revenues of 80 billion euros in 2010.

Sportingbet had bought Australia’s Centrebet International Ltd for A$183m earlier this year.

The British gaming firm’s shares, which have lost nearly half their value over the past 12 months, were up 2 per cent on the London Stock Exchange following the news.