According to its Chief Executive John Anderson: "I need that for customer retention and for organic growth,"

Although 888 market value has developed, bank analysts still recommend diverse gaming operations like Sportingbet as the safest investments.

Anderson said he was open minded about where the potential acquisition was focussed, but wanted to avoid taking bets from the United States.

"In terms of sportsbook, the one thing I will not be doing is taking bets from American citizens in America, because that's illegal under the Wire Act in the States," he said.

Needless to ad that many more countries than only the US have laws banning their citizen from gambling on foreign websites. Most countries in the world have restrictions and the majority of online gaming websites are based in soft jurisdictions just to circumvene these bans.