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Online betting group Betfair mulls listing
LONDON (Reuters) - Online betting exchange Betfair is mulling a potential 700 million pound flotation, according to the Sunday Times.
The newspaper said Betfair had appointed investment bank NM Rothschild to advise on its strategic options with an IPO believed to be the favoured target.
London is a popular listing centre for Internet gambling companies because online gaming in the UK is not as strictly regulated as in other countries such as the United States.
Online casino 888.com told Reuters last week it was looking at a possible London listing this year, with a valuation of about $1.6 billion (855 million).
In January, the world's biggest online poker company, PartyGaming, said it was considering a flotation that would value it at over 3 billion pounds, which would make it one of London's largest share listings for over three years.
Companies exposed to the industry have boomed as better broadband access and the convenience of playing at home fuels revenue growth. Shares in Sportingbet have more than trebled in the last year to value the owner of the Paradise Poker site at 1 billion pounds.
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