Livermore Regulatory News (LIV)

19 Jul 2005 14:18

Empire Online Limited19 July 2005 19 July 2005 Empire Online Sponsors The Great Canadian Poker Tournament Empire Online, a leading provider of marketing services to the online gamingindustry, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategicpartnership with The Great Canadian Poker Tournament, a wholly owned subsidiaryof Extreme Poker Ltd, a NASDAQ listed company. The Great Canadian Poker Tournament is forecast to be the largest televisedpoker tour in Canada. The tournament being broadcast on television over an 11week series with episodes 12 and 13 concluding with a grand finale tournament,the winner of which will take home US$150,000 in prize money. Extreme Poker has plans to roll-out the tournament across Europe in the nearfuture and Empire Online is very well placed to provide the necessary support inthis region. Noam Lanir, Chief Executive of Empire Online said, "We are extremely pleased tobe entering into this alliance with The Great Canadian Poker Tournament, thelargest no-fee entry, live poker game available to the public. The Tournamentwill significantly raise the profile of our brand in our key market of NorthAmerica." Avner Yassur Marketing Director of Empire Online said, "One of our strategicgoals is to launch our global roll out program in Canada. Poker in Canada isdramatically rising and we believe that the Great Canadian Poker tournament willhelp us to penetrate this market and become the leading poker brand in Canada.We are negotiating with some of the leading national TV stations in Canada inorder to get maximum penetration." For further information on Empire Online please see our website www.ep.com Empire Online Limited +357 (2) 5 847 700Noam Lanir, Chief Executive OfficerYossi Pereg, Chief Financial Officer Citigate Dewe Rogerson +44 (0) 20 7638 9571Simon RigbySarah Gestetner Notes to Editors Company overview Empire Online is a leading provider of marketing services to the online gamingindustry. Through online and offline advertising and other marketing techniques,the Group directs new players to online poker and online casino websitesoperated by third party gaming operators, principally empirepoker.com (a whitelabel website related to PartyPoker.com, one of the largest online poker rooms)and Casino-On-Net (part of 888.com, one of the most established online casinowebsites). The Company also has arrangements with a subsidiary of PartyGaming tomarket other online gaming websites, including AceClub.com andstarluckcasino.com. The Group's objective is to take advantage of the expected growth of the onlinegaming market by generating greater revenues in a cost-efficient manner throughthe acquisition of new players and by increasing the activity levels of theGroup's existing players. The Company aims to pay particular attention toexpanding its player base in certain European countries in the medium term, withthe intention of raising its profile and reducing the Group's reliance on theNorth American market. Empire Online will also continue to pursue its existingstrategies in relation to its primary markets of the United States and Canada tomaintain its strong position in these markets. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange