SOURCE: Reuters

(London, England) — Playtech (PTEC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest online casino and poker software firm, said on Monday it was highly confident about 2008 trading as fourth-quarter revenues jumped.

The UK-based, Israeli-run firm said revenues rose 101 percent to $32.7 million when the previous financial year's U.S. revenues were not included.

Playtech, whose poker and casino software is used by sites like Bet365 and Blue Square, has rapidly rebuilt its business with European and Asian online betting sites after the U.S. government effectively banned online gaming in October 2006.

Revenues from its core casino games software grew to $22.9 million in the three months to end Dec. and revenue from its fast-growing online poker software rose to $9.4 million.

Shares in the firm, which have risen around 20 percent in the last three weeks, fell 3.8 percent in early trading to 378 pence, valuing the business at around 820 million pounds ($1.60 billion).

Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Quentin Bryar