eGaming Review August 2012 | Page 25

neighbours Entraction, a network it valued in May of the same year at $120m (£70m). The timing of the deal was surprising. To spend more than $100m on a poker network that, at the time, contained a number of licensees operating in unregulated grey and black markets including Russia and Turkey, a week after its $54m acquisition of Barcrest and three weeks after Black Friday and the DoJ’s indictment of the founders of some of the world’s largest poker rooms, was a brave move. At the time, Entraction’s poker network had a seven-day average of 1,440 cash game players according to rankings site PokerScout, placing it between 888 and Microgaming, while in an interim report for the three months ended 31 March, operating pro?t was down 21.66% year-on-year to SEK8.1m (£808,888) and pro?ts down from SEK10.67m to SEK7.84m, a decrease of 26.5% on the same period in 2010. While representatives at IGT claim to c ?????????????????????????????????e??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????%P?A?????9?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????%??????9????I?????????Q?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????A??????9?????????????A?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Y@?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????q?????????((?(+? ???4((?()=??????e????????????????????(+?q%P?%L? 1H?Q!P?10? !9L?%8?Q!?5I-P?Y=UH?9QI Q%=8?9?=UH?AIQ9IO?t)???????????????????