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DEVILFISH JOINS A NEW POKER NETWORK
London-listed company has moved to EntractionDevilfish Poker.com, the online poker company owned by Devifish Gaming plc with UK poker ace Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott as its ambassador relaunched this week on the Entraction (formerly 24hpoker) software and network.
No reason was given for the change from Excapsa software, although there is unconfirmed speculation that it may be related to the high profile controversies that have swirled around UltimateBet and its sister Absolute Poker in recent times.
Paul Barnes, the CEO of Devilfish Gaming said, “After months of hard work we’re really excited about the all-new DevilfishPoker.com. Entraction is a very successful network with outstanding software, we’ve redesigned our website with a contemporary look and feel, and now offer poker players one of the top playing environments and communities on the web.”
The re-launch features a range of promos, further details of which can be found on the website.
Devilfish Gaming takes its name from the respected poker professional David Ulliott, who is active in promoting the business. Ulliott is one of Europe’s best known and most recognised poker players and in 2007 had his most successful year ever on the poker tournament circuit leading to his winning the prestigious Card Player European Player of the Year award.
The company is publicly quoted, having floated on London’s PLUS market in March this year using Excapsa software, which also powered UltimateBet. The servers on which DFP’s players were hosted, including real money poker gaming servers, were located in Kahnawake when the company went public, operated by a third party, eWorld which also operated UltimateBet.
According to the Devilfish IPO prospectus, in October 2006 Excapsa Software Inc. announced the purchase of its online gaming business through a sale of the shares of its Maltese wholly-owned subsidiaries, Excapsa Services Inc. and Game Theory Holdings Limited to a privately owned Malta-licensed company called Blast Off Limited. Blast Off was a previous licensee on the Excapsa network.
It is understand that consideration for the Excapsa acquisition payable by Blast Off was US$ 130 million of which US$ 10 million was to be made by way of initial payment in the form of cash and promissory note, and the remaining US$ 120 million was to be paid by way of deferred consideration over the following five and a half years, with monthly instalments of US$ 1 million during the first year and US$ 2 million per month thereafter.
Devilfish Gaming is the brainchild of founding directors billionaire Kevin Leech and major shareholder David Ulliott, with the experienced Internet executive Paul Barnes as Chief Executive Officer, and Karl Hutson and John Mulcahy as executive and non executive directors respectively.
Leech made his first fortune from his family’s funeral business which he sold to the Cooperative Society in the early 1980s. He invested in a biotechnology company, ML Laboratories plc, which in 1987 became the first public biotechnology company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. As an entrepreneur, Jersey-based Leech has made significant investments in many private and well known companies, becoming the island’s first billionaire.
Barnes has been involved in the industry since 1996 and set up All In Poker, a multi-player online poker site, launching the business in 2005. Following a management buy-out, All In Poker was sold in 2007, and Barnes has been involved as a gaming consultant to Groupe Lucien Barrière in France, advising on the development, configuration and marketing launch of their online casino and poker business.
