Two Israeli owned Internet gaming companies, Empire Online and 888Casino.com, have announced that they plan to float their companies on the London stock exchange this year. Empire Online owner, Noam Lanir, is hoping for a one billion dollar flotation on the stock exchange and plans to float the company in late June. The owners of 888Casino.com, the Shaked siblings and Ben Ytzchak siblings, have even higher hopes for their company. 888Casino.com is expected to float for 1.6 billion dollars. Interested investors should look for this flotation in the second half of 2005.

Empire Online, unlike 888Casino.com, does more than just offer a venue for gambling. Empire Online’s specialty is attracting the gamblers to the online gambling sites. It is not enough just produce and offer a site, the site needs to attract a critical mass of visitors, and that is where Empire Online specializes and excels. In fact, companies such as 888Casino.com and Pacific Poker owe their popularity and success to Empire Online’s successful marketing techniques.

“Looking at the company and leaving out the stigma, it’s astonishing”, said Mr. Leventhal, the chief financial officer at the Tamir Fishman brokerage. “It is a highly interesting company with high turnover, tremendous profits, and enormous growth”, he added. Levanthal believes that Empire Online’s expectation of a billion-dollar company valuation is entirely within reason, given the company’s profit margin. He also believes that Empire Online is one of the most promising Internet companies around ’s and represents an outstanding opportunity for investors. The Tamir Fishman Brokerage firm, based in Tel Aviv, is the investment bank that will be handling Empire Online’s allocation to Israeli investors.

Mr. Lanir revealed that, for the year 2005, he is expecting Empire Online to net $66 million on $100 million in revenues. In the previous year, Empire Online netted a total of $37.7 million on $65.2 million in turnover.

In a bid to add to make the upcoming flotation even more credible and attractive to investors, Empire Online hired Numis Securities to underwrite the company’s issue. Lanir scored big when he got Lord Leonard Steinberg as chairman. Steinberg has been a major player in the United Kingdom’s gambling industry since 1955 and built Stanley Leisure. Stanley Leisure is one of the largest gambling businesses in the United Kingdom. Considering the success of Empire Online and the increasing interest in Internet gambling inside Israel and England, Numus Securities is even considering an increase in the scope of the IPO.