888 Holdings listed on the London Stock Exchange largely behind the strength of their gargantuan online casino (casino-on-net.com), but now the company's growth stems mainly from online poker. Their online poker room, Pacific Poker, recorded exceptional figures for the 4th Quarter results.
Whereas online casino revenue for 888 Holdings was up 1% for the last quarter of 2005, online poker revenue exploded up 22% to $36 million. That's only $5 million less than the casino revenue, which weighed in at $41 million.
Pacific Poker is generally regarded as the fourth or fifth biggest online poker room in the world, competing against Ultimate Bet and Paradise Poker for that honor. Pacific Poker used to have a reputation as the best destination for high-limit online cash games and was well known as a hangout for the strongest European players in particular.
888 Holdings is in direct competition with Party Gaming, who launched various casino games last year to their Party Poker players. The results have been nothing short of phenomenal, and the tendency for these companies to offer their clients a complete gaming experience (poker plus casino games plus a sportsbook) is now very noticeable across the board.
