[May 9] Tax-free betting company Sportingbet.com (UK) Plc announced Tuesday the purchase of the Costa Rican online betting service Betmaker.com, bringing an additional 150 staff and $150 million in turnover.

The purchase of Betmaker.com, for an undisclosed sum, is a major move for Sportingbet.com. It gives the company a base in the Americas, with 25,000 customers in North, South and Central America.

Mark Blandford, Sportingbet.com's managing director, said that the acquisition demonstrated that his company was really serious about exploiting the global opportunity for sports betting.

"This is a value for money deal and coupled with the recent South East Asian deal puts us in a strong position towards fulfilling our ambition to become the dominant global player in online bookmaking," said Blandford.

Blandford added that in the coming months Sportingbet will launch several specific language sites, thus ensuring further growth and diversification of its customer base.

Sportingbet's latest acquisition, Betmaker.com, covers all areas of sports betting, including North American football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer and European sports.

In the coming weeks, Sportingbet.com will integrate Betmaker.com into its main site. On doing so it will have a customer base of over 43,000 registered customers.

Fully regulated under British law, Sportingbet.com is quoted by OFEX, the London off exchange trading facility. It is registered in the British Channel Islands and enjoys a betting tax-free status.


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