Sports Betting Firm Betfair Looking Likely to Float

According to recent reports, successful online sports betting exchange, Betfair, is considering a public listing that could see the gambling giant generate up to £1.5 billion in capital, which it could use to fund its acquisition program, particular in the U.S. if its online gambling ban is reversed.

If - as many online gambling insiders predict - the Obama administration reverses the country's current online gambling ban sometime within the next year, it could open the floodgates for offshore online gambling firms, like Betfair, to once again enter the highly lucrative U.S. online gambling market.

The possibility that the U.S. government will take this step is causing many of the world's largest online gambling firms to shore themselves up through a series of mergers and acquisitions that would leave them well-placed to enter the U.S. online gambling market. And Betfair it seems is no different.

Since its launch a few years ago, Betfair has managed to go from strength to strength to become the world's largest betting exchange. Earlier this month, Betfair's annual results showed a revenue increase of 27 per cent to £303 million in the year to April 30, with its users up 25 per cent to 652 000.

As such, Betfair founders  Bertie Black and Ed Wray have reportedly been meeting with financial advisers over the possibility of a flotation. However, the online gambling executives made it clear that they do not want a repeat of the events that surrounded another planned listing some years earlier.