Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[AlunB]

It's a nonsense comparison as Andrew says. At the time Ongame as we know it today was about 25% of the business. The rest was US-facing poker rooms. And they were what Bwin bought it for, as well as owning its own tech. And post-UIGEA the price was reduced quite substantially.

A more interesting and relevant comparison is the price IGT paid for Entraction.

My apologies, then, if I misread the EGR article.

I'm fairly certain that it said that the value of the network had dipped by 95% since 2005, though I can see how that comparision is misleading.

Don't apologise. I just read the article and it gives an entirely false impression of the sale by comparing it to the 2005 acquisition. Sloppy journamalism. Wouldn't have happened on my watch guv

[tikay]

Good luck to blondes Scotty77 & TommyD on tonight's show on 865, from 7pm until midnight. (Tommy will "only" be on from 8pm until Midnight).

The Presenter will be Anna Fowler.

Questions, if any, to skyopen@bskyb.com

Which one would you most like to see a photo of - Scotty, presumably?

[AlunB]

Having said all that you have to say they still took a bath on it. Although opening negotiations by effectively saying 'alright we don't want this, does anyone else?' may not have been the smartest sales technique...

Umm, yes, I was sort of trying, cooyily wooyily, to allude to that.....whatever way you cut it, it turned out to be expensive. Nobody could have foreseen UIGEA, but it is a fact of life, it damaged Shareholder value significantly. It matters not to shareholders "why", the value has disappeared, end of.

What is the attraction, or synergy, to Shuffle-Master, who are, as far as I am aware, land-based? Grow the business, run it as a cash-cow, or something else?

Something else. The additional €10 million is contingent on the US regulating online poker. So it's making sure they are ready to be a supplier in that market. I guess perhaps they think they can make some money from the European operations too? I haven't spoken to anyone there so I don't know if they are going to try and grow the network here. It's a solid piece of tech though and Bwin spent millions upgrading the poker software and on mobile solutions.

The shareholder value disappeared (and was written down) years ago though. And that was based on the closing of Pokerroom as an ongoing concern. Ongame remained an important part of the business. They could have held on to it to be honest as a B2B arm. But took the corporate decision not to for whatever reason.

[tikay]

It's a nonsense comparison as Andrew says. At the time Ongame as we know it today was about 25% of the business. The rest was US-facing poker rooms. And they were what Bwin bought it for, as well as owning its own tech. And post-UIGEA the price was reduced quite substantially.

A more interesting and relevant comparison is the price IGT paid for Entraction.

My apologies, then, if I misread the EGR article.

I'm fairly certain that it said that the value of the network had dipped by 95% since 2005, though I can see how that comparision is misleading.

Don't apologise. I just read the article and it gives an entirely false impression of the sale by comparing it to the 2005 acquisition. Sloppy journamalism. Wouldn't have happened on my watch guv

Lol, absolutely not.

And, as you know, "I'm fairly certain it said...." means "it said EXACTLY that".

[tikay]

Eat your heart out, Dubai. I reckon this might just be Alex Tattoo Boy". (from "yahoo!")



Alex 'Ace Of Spades' Hope racks up incredible £200,000 bar bill


A high-flying city trader who calls himself "Alex Ace Of Spades" ran up an astonishing £203,948 bill at a swanky Liverpool bar - splashing out £125,000 alone on one bottle of champagne.


The multi-millionaire financier Alex Hope, 23, was thought to be celebrating a big business deal at luxury nightclub Playground.

Stunned revellers looked on as the wealthy trader forked out £125,000 for a huge 30-litre Armand de Brignac Midas bottle. Also listed on the staggering bill was a smaller bottle of Midas at £24,000, 40 standard bottles at £500 and two bottles of Spades Brut at £4,500.

On exiting the club at 2am on Sunday he left an £18,540 tip.

Other party-goers at the Liverpool Hilton Hotel club that night included Wayne Rooney's wife Coleen and Manchester City footballer Joe Hart.

A spokesperson for Mr Hope told Yahoo! News: "He's just a really generous guy from South East London who likes to treat others - he doesn't overindulge on himself.

"He puts lots of money into charities and has just launched an entrepreneurs' club this week.

"He's a bit shocked at the reaction to this to be honest."

This morning Mr Hope's Twitter account @alexaceofspades and his website had been taken down, although the cached version of the site describes how Mr Hope is a "self-taught trader who specialises in the Foreign Exchange Market".

[Royal Flush]

Why not just fly everyone to london and have a proper night out?

[tikay]

This, apparently, is Alex, pictured last night.

Click to see full-size image.

[outragous76]

Why not just fly everyone to london and have a proper night out?

 

[AlunB]

And drink a better champagne. Seriously.

[AndrewT]

Here's a banner from his website (now unavailable)



Talk about a face you'd never tire of punching.

[Claw75]

or why not just be less of complete knob.  are there really actually people that are impressed by this kind of behaviour?

just caught up on a few days worth of posts - gonna try your geography quiz thing tikay.  see if you can get beat by a girl.  I'm only gonna do europe and the americas though.

[mondatoo]

or why not just be less of complete knob.  are there really actually people that are impressed by this kind of behaviour?

just caught up on a few days worth of posts - gonna try your geography quiz thing tikay.  see if you can get beat by a girl.  I'm only gonna do europe and the americas though.

How is he a knob though ? Who says he was trying to impress anyone ? I've spent more of my net worth on a night out many a time.

[Claw75]

or why not just be less of complete knob.  are there really actually people that are impressed by this kind of behaviour?

just caught up on a few days worth of posts - gonna try your geography quiz thing tikay.  see if you can get beat by a girl.  I'm only gonna do europe and the americas though.

How is he a knob though ? Who says he was trying to impress anyone ? I've spent more of my net worth on a night out many a time.

don't mind me mond, I'm just a bit grumpy today.

[titaniumbean]

or why not just be less of complete knob.  are there really actually people that are impressed by this kind of behaviour?

just caught up on a few days worth of posts - gonna try your geography quiz thing tikay.  see if you can get beat by a girl.  I'm only gonna do europe and the americas though.

How is he a knob though ? Who says he was trying to impress anyone ? I've spent more of my net worth on a night out many a time.

Mond, he's clearly a nob.

[AlunB]

Bit weird how his twitter account and website have all been taken down. PR fail?