Sportingbet Plc Announces Unaudited Results for the Three Months Ended 31 October 2005

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Sportingbet Plc (LSE: SBT), a leading online sports betting and gaming group, announces results for its first quarter, ended 31 October 2005. In order to better understand the Group's performance in this quarter, the highlights below include both the actual results for the quarter and, where appropriate, pro-forma results assuming that Paradise Poker had been owned in the corresponding quarter last year.

Financial Highlights - Three Months Ended 31 October 2005

• Gross margin up 167% to £64.6m (2004: £24.2m), up 82% on a pro-forma basis

• Operating profit* up 396% to £22.3m (2004: £4.5m), up 76% on a pro-forma basis

• Profit before tax up 450% to £14.3m (2004: £2.6m), up 81% on a pro-forma basis

• Basic earnings per share* of 6.2p (2004: 2.1p)

• Diluted earnings per share* of 4.9p (2004: 1.5p)

• Cash generation from operating activities of £42.1m (2004: £17.5m)

(* Stated pre goodwill and share option charge)

Business Highlights - Three Months Ended 31 October 2005

• New registered customers up 619% to 0.7m (2004: 0.1m), 245% on a pro-forma basis

• New real money customers up 137% to 0.17m (2004: 0.07m), 67% on a pro-forma basis

• Active real money customers acquired at an average cost of £148 (12 mths 2005: £137)

• Number of sports and gaming bets up 44% to 123.2m (2004: 85.8m)

• Average daily Paradise Poker rake up 88% to $430,858 (pro-forma 2004: $229,377)

• Strong introduction of US shared purse technology:

o 17,729 (13.0%) of active US sports customers played poker during the
quarter generating an average of $26,000 rake per day throughout the
quarter and $41,000 rake per day by the end of the quarter

o 13,296 (8.8%) of US active poker players bet on sports / casino during
the quarter generating $1m of margin

Commenting on today's announcement, Peter Dicks, Chairman, said:

"We are delighted with the start that we have made to this new financial year. Our strategy of providing customers with multi-product, safe, online gambling opportunities via localised websites under one virtual roof has yielded a record performance for the quarter by some distance.

We have recruited more new customers, taken more bets, played more games of poker and made more profit than in any previous first quarter. The benefits of the increased scale of our business across our multi-product "one-stop-shop" environment have been clearly demonstrated.

With strong organic growth at the start of the second quarter, the Board continues to look forward with confidence."

Commenting on the results, Nigel Payne, Chief Executive, said:

"I am very pleased to report a record performance for all parts of the Sportingbet Group this quarter.

In the last three months we have grown our customer database by over 700,000 new registered customers, a rate of growth 245% faster than this time last year. Each of our operating regions achieved record profits for the quarter.

We are particularly pleased with the Group's customer dynamics, which have remained in line with previous years despite the significant increase in the scale of the business. We are also delighted with the introduction of the new US-facing shared purse technology which has generated over $2.4m of incremental poker margin and a further $1.0m of sports and casino margin in the quarter."

For further information please contact:

Sportingbet Plc

Nigel Payne
Chief Executive
Tel: 020 7251 7273

Andrew McIver
Finance Director
Tel: 020 7251 7280

Simon Gregory
Corporate Finance Director
Tel: 020 7251 7545

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