Month end: Esprit de Media Corp 26/11/2009

Jon Parker

MEDIA CORPORATION (MEDIA CORP), the UK advertising network and online publishing group, last month launched its fight back campaign after a troubled few years.

The company was hit hard by America’s Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which effectively killed off its then most profitable line of business, Gambling.com.

But its Google penalty on Gambling.com was lifted last month after two years; and re-launched the site with SEO business On-e Media and secured partners to provide sports betting, poker and casino.

It also acquired poker site Purple Lounge – the first of what chief executive Justin Drummond promised would be numerous acquisitions in sports betting and bingo of “up to £10m”.

Drummond is unswervingly upbeat, vowing to raise Purple Lounge’s turnover of £16.5m to £50-£100m within two years - an optimistic scenario when one looks at the state of European poker at the moment.

However with the Google search penalty lifted, Gambling.com is back in the top slot when one searches for ‘gambling’ on Google.com. With the help of On-e Media, Drummond’s next step is to try to monetise that traffic.

And while Purple Lounge made a pre-tax loss of £477,000 last year, its gaming products are operated from UK white-list jurisdiction Malta, allowing Media Corp's gambling products instant access to the UK market.

Drummond’s reasoning is that Media Corp has “never really had the gaming experience. This deal allows us to have that, while for Purple Lounge, who are less good at attracting new players than retaining old ones, [the deal] will allow us to drive new custom.”

The odds are still long, but Drummond's reasoning is sound. He could just be in with a shot. 

Disagree? EGR welcomes pitches for blog posts of between 250 and 350 words on topical issues in egaming. Email online editor Jon Parker for details.

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Posted: 26/11/2009