2nd Aug 2006 07:03
888 Holdings plc02 August 2006 888 Holdings Plc 2 August 2006 888 sponsors Toulouse Football Club 888, one of the world's most popular online gaming entertainment companies, isdelighted to announce an agreement for 888 to be official club sponsors ofToulouse Football Club, commencing 1 August 2006, for the 2006-2007 and2007-2008 football seasons. This agreement is a further roll-out of 888's diversified, multi-channelmarketing strategy to grow the Company's non-US customer base, furtherstrengthening the company's leadership position in Continental Europe and theUK, via investment in its brand. The anticipated benefits in Europe willcomplement and reinforce 888's operational strategy of multi-lingual websitesand customer support which it currently maintains across 177 countries and in upto 11 languages. 888 has an excellent track record for industry leading, successful, sportssponsorship agreements. The Company already sponsors Middlesbrough Football Clubwhere its shirt sponsorship deal has been a huge success. Earlier this year 888also signed a five year deal to be the sponsor of the iconic World SnookerChampionship to promote the Company's brand into emerging markets such as Chinaand the Far East, where snooker has a huge following. John Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of 888 said: "The 888 brand is core to our marketing strategy. It is not only critical as adifferentiator but a recognisable brand builds trust which is a keyconsideration affecting a consumer's choice of provider. Our investment insports sponsorship has yielded terrific results to date in the UK, which was ourfastest growing territory last year. Our strategy is to roll this out throughContinental Europe and I am delighted to announce this agreement with Toulouseas evidence of that strategy being put into practice." Contacts and enquiries 888John Anderson Chief Executive Officer +350 49800Aviad Kobrine Chief Financial Officer +350 49800Gigi Levy Chief Operating Officer +350 49800 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialNick Lambert +44 (0)20 7861 3232 Notes to Editors About 888 888.com is headquartered and licensed in Gibraltar with offices in Tel Aviv,Antigua and London. It has over 25 million registered member accounts in over177 countries worldwide and play and customer support is available in up to 11languages - 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In October 2005 888's shares were admitted to the main market of the LondonStock Exchange.888.com offers traditional casino products such as blackjack, roulette, craps,baccarat, keno, slot machines, video, and a variety of poker games. Its mainpoker offering is provided through the Pacific Poker brand which offers ringgames and tournaments. Other offerings include a betting exchange (for non US members only), otherskill games such as checkers, backgammon and arcade games (888.tv) as well asfree poker school and other casino games through 888.info The Group has its own R&D arm that is based in Tel Aviv and develops proprietarysoftware for exclusive use by 888.com. This enables the Group to continuallyevolve and develop the software and systems to give customers a state of the artgaming experience. It also provides a full back office management system that isowned and controlled directly by 888. This ensures the company is not reliant onthird parties for its software. 888 have been at the forefront of moves to ensure that the industry is subjectto a high level of regulation. It was instrumental in the foundation of theeCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) initiative. eCOGRAhas established a set of best practice regulations and enforces them through acombination of independent monitoring and inspection. Through the establishmentof eCOGRA, 888 has helped to create a regulatory framework that delivers safe,honest and player-sensitive online gambling. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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