The company that owns Ultimate Bet is called Excapsa, and rumor has it that they're thinking about going public on the London Stock Exchange, just as Party Gaming went public recently. This is exciting news for the poker players I know, because initial public offerings seem to add a certain amount of legitimacy to an endeavor. And considering some of the legal controversy surrounding online poker and internet wagering, legitimacy is a good thing indeed.

Canaccord Capital has been recruited by Excapsa to help take the company public. According to what I've read, they're anticipating that the market cap of the company when it goes public will exceed $340 million. Not bad at all for an online poker company. Definitely tends to put UltimateBet.com's size into perspective when you compare it with Party Gaming's recent market cap too. Ultimate Bet, according to one report, is the 7th largest poker room online.

I'll post more information about the Ultimate Bet IPO as it becomes available to me. Until then, if you don't have an account at UB, and you'd like to try it out, please click on the link below. You'll love playing at Ultimate Bet.

Updated on 7/27/2005 - Looks like the IPO is more than just a rumor, and they're anticipating an initial market cap of between £145 million and £200 million. Jim Ryan is the chief executive, or CEO of Ultimate Bet.

Ultimate Bet Poker

You might also be interested in my review of Poker Share, a skin of Ultimate Bet with a unique rewards program that tickled my fancy.

This page was last updated on January 5, 2006.