BIG NEWSCryptoLogic Announces Exclusive Online Poker Agreement With Betfair, The World's Largest Betting Exchange
1/15/04
TORONTO, Jan 15, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
ALL DOLLAR AMOUNTS IN US$
CryptoLogic Inc., a leading software developer to the Internet gaming and e-commerce industries, is pleased to announce that the company is advancing its international growth with new customer Betfair, the largest online betting exchange.
Through a license agreement with CryptoLogic subsidiary WagerLogic Limited, Betfair will introduce one of the world's most popular card games using WagerLogic's leading player-to-player poker technology.
'Betfair is an outstanding opportunity to increase CryptoLogic's leadership in the fast-growing online poker market,'said Lewis Rose, CryptoLogic's President and CEO. 'Betfair is in perfect step with CryptoLogic's strategy of doing business with the best in gaming. Together, we have a winning formula: Betfair's world-leading brand in betting exchanges, strong player base, and global marketing might -- matched with our sophisticated poker solution. Betfair offers exciting promise as its online poker site is launched this year, and starts to build momentum.'
Betfair has revolutionized the global and U.K. online sports wagering industries with its online betting exchange service. The founders of the betting exchange concept, Betfair retains a 90% share of the growing multi-billion dollar market. The company matches well in excess of Pounds Sterling 50 million in bets per week on a wide range of sports, entertainment and financial markets. Poker offers Betfair the opportunity to consolidate its leadership in the exchange market by offering a new wagering product to its global customer base.
'Online poker is a natural complement to Betfair's sports betting business. We are delighted to be working with a company of CryptoLogic's caliber and experience. In CryptoLogic, we identified a partner with top-class technology and one who shares our aspirations to create the best integrated poker platform on the Internet,'said Steve Ives, Betfair's Business Development Director.
'With our proven poker software, Betfair is ideally positioned to capitalize on the large, high growth online poker market to our mutual benefit,'added Jon Moss, WagerLogic's Director of Business Development.
Poker has quickly become a favorite with Internet users, attracting an increasing number of both casual players and seasoned professionals. The Internet poker market has grown six-fold in the past year to an estimated 10% of a $5 billion in revenue global online gaming market. Since the launch of its poker offering in October 2002, CryptoLogic has already earned a market-leading position and powers one of the top 10 poker rooms on the Web. Industry analysts estimate that these top 10 sites account for approximately 90% of the online poker market.
About CryptoLogic (www.cryptologic.com)
Focused on integrity and innovation, CryptoLogic Inc. is a leading software development company serving the global Internet gaming market. The company's proprietary technologies enable secure, high-speed financial transactions over the Internet. CryptoLogic continues to develop state-of-the-art Internet software applications for both the electronic commerce and Internet gaming industries. WagerLogic Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of CryptoLogic, is responsible for the licensing of its gaming software and services to customers worldwide. For more information on WagerLogic, visit www.wagerlogic.com.
CryptoLogic's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: CRY), the Nasdaq National Market (symbol: CRYP) and the London Stock Exchange (symbol: CRP). There are currently 12.3 million common shares outstanding.
About Betfair (www.betfair.com)
Founded in 2000 and located and licensed in the United Kingdom, Betfair is the world's largest online betting exchange. A betting exchange is a bookmaker, which allows customers to bet at prices set by themselves, rather than having to accept prices dictated to them by the wagering operator. Using sophisticated technology modeled on the New York stock exchange, Betfair accepts bets placed by individuals on a wide range of sports, horse racing, entertainment and financial events, and immediately offsets them against counter-orders from other customers. All bets on Betfair are placed by individuals who want to bet for or against the outcome of a given event.
With turnover exceeding Pounds Sterling 50 million per week, Betfair has a user base from more than 80 countries worldwide. Its services are offered in multiple languages -- English, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, and Swedish -- and the company targets users from all over the world. At peak times, the exchange matches up to 12,000 bets a minute. The company's co-founders were jointly voted Ernst &Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2002. Betfair was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise, in the Innovation Category for 2003.
CRYPTOLOGIC FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT DISCLAIMER:
Statements in this press release which are not historical are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, risks associated with the Company's financial condition and prospects, legal risks associated with Internet gaming and risks of governmental legislation and regulation, risks associated with market acceptance and technological changes, risks associated with dependence on licensees and key licensees, risks relating to international operations, risks associated with competition and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with securities regulatory authorities. These risks may cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: CryptoLogic
CryptoLogicNancy Chan-Palmateer, 416-545-1455orCryptoLogicJim Ryan, 416-545-1455orBetfair.comCaspar Hill, +44 20 8834 8000poker@betfair.comorArgyle Rowland (North American media)Daniel Tisch, 416-968-7311 ext. 223dtisch@argylerowland.comorArgyle Rowland (North American media)Melissa Chang, 416-968-7311 ext. 239melissa@argylerowland.comorFinancial Dynamics (UK media)Juliet Clarke, +44 20 7831 3113juliet.clarke@fd.comorFinancial Dynamics (UK media)Edward Bridges, +44 20 7831 3113edward.bridges@fd.com
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