SOURCE: Reuters

(London, England) — Online gaming, slot machine and betting software firm AsianLogic is set to become the first Asia-based gambling firm to list in London with a $110 million pre-Christmas flotation planned on the Alternative Investment Market.

The firm's co-founder and vice chairman Tom Hall told Reuters that $90 million of the proceeds had been earmarked for expansion and acquisitions.

Hall said the firm would spend roughly $50 million buying up or taking stakes in Asian betting rivals, around $20 million developing slot machines for Asian gaming hotspots Macau and the Philippines and planned to funnel the rest into a gaming and technology investment fund.

AsianLogic currently runs 10 Asian gaming Web sites and provides casino and poker sites with Asian favourites like Cho Da Di and Mahjong as well 24 hour a day live video feeds of Philippino croupiers and dealers.

It also has stakes in slot machine makers and runs an Asian gambling consultancy business.

After legal changes in the United States last year effectively closed off the world's biggest Internet gambling market, listed online gaming firms moved their attentions to Europe and Asia. Asian-focused games are now helping to tap into gambling mad Asian populations.

AsianLogic was set up as ESL in 2002 by former Playtech Chief Executive Hall, ex British Army Officer Chris Parker and Asian gaming veteran Chi Kan Tang. It is being advised by Collins Stewart.

It earns a large chunk of it revenues in Malaysia and Singapore from reselling Playtech's software to Asian gaming sites, while Playtech's Asian games use AsianLogic's croupier and dealer live feeds.

Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Carol Bishopric