As reported by: Tiscali
Online gaming group Empire Online on Tuesday reported a 61 percent rise in annual gaming revenues and reiterated its confidence in achieving core profit of $37 million (21 million pounds) in 2006.

Pro-forma net gaming revenues were $105.2 million in 2005, said Empire, which owns the Noble Poker and Club Dice Websites.

Empire said it had gained an average of 450 new "real money" players each day during the first 4 weeks of March, 2006.

At the online casino site Club Dice, net revenue per day averaged $79,946 during the fourth quarter of 2005, up 22.4 percent on the third quarter.

At Noble Poker, the number of active players was 29,585 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2005, having increased 36 percent since the end of the third quarter.

"I believe that the cash reserves available to the company, along with the ability to use its equity give the company considerable flexibility in pursuing merger and acquisition activity over the remainder of the year," said Chief Executive Noam Lanir.

"Our focus is to extend the range of the products that we can offer our customers, including a sportsbook," he added.

The final dividend was set at 3.9 pence a share.

Shares in Empire closed at 146 pence on Monday, valuing the group at around 427 million pounds.
Article By: Tiscali