Casinos Come Late to Online Party
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LONDON - As reported by Reuters: "Casinos have missed out on a boom in online gaming over the past several years, but deals with sports-betting firms still offer a belated route into the new multi-billion-dollar industry.

"Online casinos and poker rooms are currently raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars every hour of the day in a market valued at up to $12 billion (7 billion pounds) a year globally.

"But Stanley Leisure, Britain's biggest casino operator, has apparently resigned itself to taking a back seat. On Monday, Stanley sold its online casino business to Leisure & Gaming for just 1.9 million pounds.

".And while shares in online gamers have recently taken a dive, the companies are still generating large amounts of cash. PartyGaming, for example, is earning revenue of just over $100,000 an hour and looks set to do so with less competition than once feared.

".Gala Group struggled to develop its own casino Web sites, said Chief Executive Neil Goulden, but all that changed when it agreed this month to buy betting shop chain Coral Eurobet for 2.18 billion pounds.

".Rank has also chosen to twin online casino with sports betting on its Blue Square site, and London Clubs says it is still evaluating its options."