16254 06042009 proof 5 16254 06042009 proof 5
annual report  accounts 2008
888 holdings plc
suite 601701 europort
europort road
gibraltar
t 350 20049800
f 350 20048280
e info888holdingsplccom
www888holdingsplccom
 888 holdings plc annual report  accounts 2008
16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   1 16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   1 08042009   1110 08042009   1110 16254 06042009 proof 5 16254 06042009 proof 5
at888comwebelieve
that entertainment is the 
spark that completes 
our lives that after the 
challenges and routine 
that occupies our daily 
lives everyone seeks fun 
and enjoyment    
at 888com we believe that we are the 
home of online gaming entertainment
our primary responsibility is to provide the best 
gaming experience to our customers and the 
best services to our business partners this 
requires the most entertaining innovative and
relevant games and the most exciting and
rewarding entertainment opportunities to win in a
responsible yet fun environment
our strategy is to achieve profitable growth 
through both the acquisition and retention of 
valuable customers by providing our customers 
a differentiated intentional customer experience 
in a safe secure trustworthy and responsible 
environment and by providing our gaming 
services through selected business partners
our goal is to become the leading online gaming 
entertainment and related business services 
company in the world to achieve this we must 
consistently provide our customers with an ideal 
customer experience and our business partners 
with excellent services
ifc highlights
2 group at a glance
3 888 brandspartners brands
4 expanding our offering
6 chairman’s statement
8 ceo’s review
12 enhanced business review
31 corporate social responsibility
33 risk report
34 board of directors
35 corporate governance
38 remuneration report
45 directors’ report
48 independent auditors’ report
50 group income statement
50 group statement of
recognised income and expense
51 group balance sheet
52 group statement of
cash flows
53 notes to the consolidated
financial statements
79 company balance sheet
80 company statement of
recognised income and expense
81 company statement of
cash flows
82 notes to the company
financial statements
84 shareholder information
contents
highlights
16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   2 16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   2 08042009   1110 08042009   1110 annual report  accounts 2008 1
16254 08042009 proof 8
1excludingsharebeneﬁtchargesofus84million2007us78million
2excludingexchangeratelossofus26million2007gainofus11million
totaloperating
income
263
217
2008 2007
up
21
us million
total operating income
— casino
139
120
2008 2007
up
15
us million
total operating income
— poker
79
82
2008 2007
down 
4
us million
total operating income
— emerging offering
45
14
2008 2007
up
208
us million
ebitda
12
56
46
2008 2007
up
23
us million
proﬁt before tax
1
49
46
2008 2007
up
6
us million
eps
1
134
126
2008 2007
up
6
cents
net cash generated 
from operating activities
56
46
2008 2007
up
22
us million
real money registered 
customer accounts
58
47
2008 2007
up
24
million
16254888com frontindd   1 16254888com frontindd   1 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 2
16254 08042009 proof 8
group at a glance
888 has made several strategic changes to address 
evolving challenges in the egaming industry the group has 
transformed its business from being a consumer focused 
casino and poker operator into two separate lines of 
business “b2c” and “b2b” each of which has a separate 
mangement structure
888 now offers consumers worldwide all four core b2c 
product offerings casino poker bingo and sportsbetting as
well as live dealer and backgammon we are experiencing 
rapid growth especially in our b2c’s “emerging offering” 
which includes bingo sportsbook live dealer casino and 
backgammon
888 is also developing its b2b business line and is becoming 
a leading provider of technology operations and knowhow 
to business partners using its existing capabilities 888 is 
uniquely positioned to work with carefully selected strategic 
partners who are either aiming to monetise their existing 
database brand loyalty and media assets or looking to 
enhance their existing online gaming operations  
888 has already secured a number of high profile agreements
which highlight both the potential of this strategic direction 
and 888’s unique position as a leading operator offering a full 
service model in the b2b field these include partnerships in 
2007 with riley’s tower torneos and luckyace 2008 has
seen an acceleration in b2b development with several more
deals in western central and eastern europe including 
the groundbreaking partnership with the uk football pools 
sportech plc highlighting the potential for 888 in this area 
the development and growth of the b2b business is an 
integral part of 888’s growth strategy for 2009 and beyond
our strategic changes
b2c b2b
poker
live dealer
backgammon
sport
bingo
casino
payment solutions
crm services
marketing
customer support
software
casino  poker operator
from
to
16254888com frontindd   2 16254888com frontindd   2 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 3
16254 08042009 proof 8
com
our brands
our partners’ brands
16254888com frontindd   3 16254888com frontindd   3 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 4
16254 08042009 proof 8
expanding our offering
888ladies launched in february 2008 in the uk is a 
gendertargeted bingo offering that has become in a 
relatively short period of time one of the most popular online
bingo rooms in the uk 
the brand has been successfully launched and continues 
to prosper as a bingo site that is not just all about bingo 
but as much about being an 888lady successful online and 
offline marketing activity has enabled 888ladies to convey
this core message most effectively into an emerging and 
competitive market place we aim to provide our customers 
with not just a leisure activity but a way to access a different
indulgent lifestyle that simply cannot be accessed through 
any other bingo or indeed gaming site
888ladies has six bingo rooms two of which are open 
24 hours a day seven days a week all offering an ever 
increasing customer base an ever growing number of bingo 
games 
customers can play 7590 ball bingo and buy tickets for 
big cash games including the monthly guaranteed £8888 
jackpot game over 2500 customers play at 888ladies 
every day while there are over 30000 funded players on the 
site a figure which continues to grow day on day month
by month
the site has very quickly become established as a firm 
favourite among the bingo playing community and 888ladies 
has already received many plaudits from within the industry
indeed 888ladies took the prestigious egaming review 
bingo operator of the year award in 2008 only a few 
months after its launch
888ladies aims to provide its customers with a warm and 
loving environment actively developing a community by 
creating a lively and buzzing chat room as well as a daily
updated blog it continues to enjoy significant growth and 
looks set to remain a leader in this sector for years to come
16254888com frontindd   4 16254888com frontindd   4 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 5
16254 08042009 proof 8
launched in march 2008 888sport is an international 
sports book available in seven countries delivering localised 
sports betting opportunities and editorial content it remains
a fully functioning portal allowing customers to place bets 
in various currencies via a number of language specific 
websites  
888sport provides betting opportunities on a wide range of 
sports events including uk and irish horseracing domestic 
european and international football as well as greyhound 
racing golf cricket rugby motor racing tennis and various 
novelty and reality television events such as big brother
at any one time tens of thousands of betting odds are
available on hundreds of sports events from around 
the world
each day 888sport also offers an ever increasing number 
of in play betting opportunities where customers can place 
bets on live events 
this enables customers to react to matches as they 
happen and to place bets based on events as they occur 
in real time 888sport offers live in play betting markets 
for numerous sports including football cricket rugby
darts and snooker as well as international events such as 
american football tennis golf and basketball
a comprehensive statistics service is also available to all 
888sport customers which encompasses every sport on 
which we accept bets 
in addition 888sport offers a wideranging results 
service available at a click of a button sports results 
are constantly updated throughout the day on the site
providing details of numerous sporting activities from
around the globe every minute of the day 247
16254888com frontindd   5 16254888com frontindd   5 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 6
16254 08042009 proof 8
chairman’s statement
“2008 has been a year of 
significant change both to 
our business model and to the 
macroeconomic environment in 
which we compete”
on behalf of the board of 888 holdings plc i am pleased to 
present the financial results for the year ended 31 december
2008 this has been a year of significant change both to our 
business model and to the macroeconomic environment in 
which we compete
b2c
we grew our core b2c offering impressively in 2008 and
now offer all four key online gaming segments casino 
poker sportsbetting and bingo our leading casino 
business was again one of the main drivers for the group’s
revenue growth and our online brand 888casino had a very
successful year it is now available in 19 different languages 
and underpinned 888 being awarded the prestigious 
egaming awards 2008 casino operator of the year award 
our poker operation recorded a small decline in total 
revenue but expanded geographically with a new localised 
offering launched in 11 new languages in 2008 bringing it to
a total of 20 languages
we have continued the successful consolidation of our
business away from a us market dominated casino and 
poker model to a more internationally diverse gaming 
entertainment business with a significantly expanded 
product offering this now includes our market leading bingo
offering sports betting ‘live dealer’ and backgammon and
importantly an integration infrastructure which opens up our 
platform to games from other vendors
b2b
as part of a strategic move to expand our business model 
we have continued the development of our b2b offering 
to become a leading provider of technology operations 
and knowledge to business partners using our existing 
capabilities we believe there is a huge opportunity in this 
area especially as the operator environment is fragmented
and existing lottery operators are optimistic that online 
offerings will become a major future growth opportunity
this development has required many technological and 
cultural changes in our organisation but we are now reaping 
the rewards and we have first mover advantage as a b2c 
operator ‘moving into’ b2b with a complete package of the 
services we can offer to our b2b customers
employees
i would like to thank all 888 employees management and 
customers for making 2008 another record year despite 
what developed into an extremely difficult economic 
environment in the latter part of the year
responsible gaming
responsible gaming is a fundamental pillar to our business 
our aim is to ensure our services are used responsibly
during the year we have expanded our activities in this 
important area as more fully described in the enhanced 
business review
financial results
2008 was another year of strong growth for 888 total 
operating income “toi” increased 21 to us263 million 
2007 us217 million underpinned by 208 growth in our 
emerging offering to us45 million 2007 us14 million 
and a 15 rise in toi from casino to us139 million 2007 
us120 million ebitda increased 23 to us56 million 
2007 us46 million
 before share benefit charges of us84 million 2007 
us78 million and exchange rate losses of us26 million 
2007 gains of us11 million
16254888com frontindd   6 16254888com frontindd   6 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 7
16254 08042009 proof 8
dividend
given our strong financial results the board has 
recommended a final dividend of 29 cents per share
in addition to our interim dividend of 25 cents per 
share paid in october 2008
outlook
2008 has been a transformational year for 888 and 
we have made tremendous progress in uniquely 
challenging economic circumstances we have 
become a world class b2b endtoend gaming 
solution provider whilst maintaining and growing 
our position as one of the leading operators in the 
egaming world serving consumers globally under our 
own b2c brands our pipeline for 2009 is promising 
and your board expects to continue our progress 
across all business parts for the foreseeable future
richard kilsby
chairman
responsible gaming 
is a fundamental 
pillar to our business 
our aim is to ensure
our services are used 
responsibly
v
operator of the year
best gaming and betting company
16254888com frontindd   7 16254888com frontindd   7 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 8
16254 08042009 proof 8
chief executive ofﬁ cer’s review
“we believe that the combined b2c
and b2b model is an essential key 
to successfully growing the business 
in 2009 and we therefore intend to 
continue focusing on both these lines of 
business”
introduction
the first half of 2008 was again a very successful trading 
period for 888 delivering record half year results and a 
seventh consecutive period of semiannual growth trading 
during the traditionally weaker summer months of july and 
august remained solid with toi in august growing above 
july’s level however like most business sectors we were
not immune to the unprecedented ferocity with which the 
global economy slowed growth in september began to slow
and that coupled with the extraordinarily volatile exchange 
rate movements — especially the sharp decline in the value 
of european currencies versus the us dollar — has impacted 
the business
despite the difficult circumstances our underlying business 
remained solid throughout the year and we have delivered
21 revenue growth year on year we are confident in 
our business model and strategy and find our successful 
combination of a world class b2c organisation and an 
innovative b2b provider in the sector a strong model 
that enables us to deal better with the current challenges 
the industry faces as proof our firm foundation of b2c 
earnings which was significantly expanded and diversified 
in 2008 was complemented by a rapid growth in our b2b 
business in the year
toi increased 21 to us263 million 2007 us217 million 
underpinned by 208 growth in our emerging offering to 
us45 million 2007 us14 million with ebitda increase 
of 23 to us56 million 2007 us46 million
 before share benefit charges of us84 million 2007 
us78 million and exchange rate losses of us26 million 
2007 gains of us11 million
delivering on our strategy
2008 marked another milestone in the delivery of our 
strategic goals in the completion of the transformation of our 
product offering and the significant evolution of our strategic
partnership programme into a significant b2b business
in the first half of the year we made strategic investments 
in both our offering and our brand the constant drive 
to acquire and retain customers through an enhanced 
and innovative offering saw 888 transformed into a 
comprehensive provider of the four key online gaming 
segments casino poker sportsbetting and bingo as well as 
additional niche products such as backgammon
in march we launched www888sportcom “888sport” 
a paneuropean sports betting offering developed with 
blue square the interactive gaming and betting division 
of rank group plc the service was initially launched 
in five markets and we have also recently launched in 
one additional market and plan to further expand our 
geographic reach in 2009 our sports product delivered solid 
performance in its first year
16254888com frontindd   8 16254888com frontindd   8 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 9
16254 08042009 proof 8
our bingo offering has been significantly expanded and 
enhanced during the year 888ladies our new subbrand 
targeted predominantly at a female audience was officially 
launched in february and backed by a high profile tv 
campaign featuring wellknown celebrity comedian vic 
reeves the launch was a huge success with customers and 
the industry alike as was recognised when we were named 
bingo operator of the year at the egaming awards 
at the end of the year we announced the further expansion 
in the b2b side of our bingo business achieved by signing 
agreements to launch three new bingo networks in addition 
to the seven we already operate one of these in spain will 
be for the first time a localised offering tailored specifically 
for local tastes and customers in addition to operating our 
own brands we also host on a full managed service basis a 
number of skins and during the year agreements were signed
to add another six new partners to the network bingo 
remains the fastest growing segment in the online gaming
industry and we feel we are very well positioned in this 
market the result of these activities was significant growth in 
the bingo business in 2008
as well as launching our own new products in 2008 we 
have evolved our strategy toward the creation of a games
ecosystem powered by our industryleading integration 
infrastructure this enables us to introduce a diversified 
offering to existing and new players rapidly and with a low
cost of development and integration by opening up our 
platform for integration with games from other vendors we 
are offering our customers an accelerated rate of new games
launches while offering third party game providers the best 
platform on which to debut or grow the exposure of their 
titles over a dozen games integration contracts have been 
signed giving us access to more than 1000 new games 
— of which 22 are already launched in various parts of our 
business 
this dual approach which gives us the ability to introduce 
games easily and quickly into local markets will remain 
a core element of our strategy as we strive to increase 
customer loyalty and lifetime value and continue to attract 
new players
2008 was a transformational year in terms of our b2b 
business which grew rapidly throughout the year the real 
step change for our b2b operations came in june with 
the groundbreaking partnership we signed with sportech 
plc one of the uk’s leading gaming businesses under 
the partnership 888 provides sportech with a turnkey online 
gaming operation which includes our market leading gaming 
and backend software customer support and payments 
processing as well as — for the first time — the marketing
of all their products online we believe the combination of 
sportech’s brands in global pools sports betting coupled 
with our software operations internet marketing and online 
gaming capabilities will yield significant mutual benefits 
following this deal we are well positioned as one of the 
leading b2b providers to the industry and given our recently 
announced deals and ongoing activity with some of the 
leading online gaming operators b2b will continue to be our 
main growth engine in the coming years 
i am pleased that we continue to be awarded industry 
accolades for our innovation and our offering in 2008 we 
retained for the third successive year egaming awards
casino operator of the year endorsing our global reach 
and marketleading position in this category and were also 
awarded the aforementioned bingo operator of the year we
also picked up leisure report’s “best betting and gaming 
award” for a second year running and “operator of the year”
beating strong competition from across the general leisure
sector
our approach and success in b2c marketing is one of 
888’s key differentiators where 888 innovates many follow
marketing was a key component to the success of our 
product launches for both 888sport and 888ladies strategic
sport sponsorships and associations such as sevilla fc 
world snooker championship and the shane warne
captaincy of the 888 poker team give the brand valuable 
high profile visibility these initiatives coupled with our ability 
to localise our marketing efforts across multiple channels 
continue to support successfully our geographic expansion 
and generation of significant numbers of new players
 
16254888com frontindd   9 16254888com frontindd   9 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 10
16254 08042009 proof 8
chief executive ofﬁ cer’s review
continued
we continue to recognise the importance of customer loyalty
as building strong relationships leads to people playing more
games more often for more time as product offerings are
increasingly tailored to individual markets and segments 
the crm teams continued to run localised promotions 
throughout the year alongside front of house promotions 
ongoing improvement in our support systems and services 
also helped to ensure that customers kept coming back 
to 888 
during 2008 we also opened up further communication 
channels through which we are able to contact customers 
the magazine ‘eight’ remains popular amongst customers 
and direct mail has now been augmented with sms 
messaging this coupled with targeted segmentation of 
the customer base now means players receive information 
of particular interest to them immediately the delivery of 
promotions and tournament reminders in this way also helps
to drive traffic online
people
our ability to recruit and retain high calibre employees is 
fundamental to our success and we continue to add talented 
people to our worldclass team it is not just that our people 
have a direct influence on the way our customers feel when 
they are playing our games — the integrity and expertise 
of our people is central to our strategy execution and 
innovation i would like to personally thank each and every 
employee for their support and hard work in the past year
regulation
the regulatory landscape within which we operate remains 
unstable in some regions whilst the european court of 
justice’s ruling in the placanica case restated the importance 
of eu regulations to our industry there have been some 
mixed messages from the eu parliament generally however
we view eu developments positively and we have seen a 
continued trend throughout the year of additional european 
jurisdictions embarking on a path to license and regulate 
online gaming a route which we clearly welcome 
as stated in our announcement dated 5 june 2007 we 
have initiated preliminary discussions with the united states 
attorney’s office for the southern district of new york 
relating to our activity in the us prior to the signing of the
uigea it is too early to assess any particular outcome of 
these discussions
responsible gaming
we take our responsibilities as an international gaming
operator extremely seriously we continue to lead the market 
in our support of the prevention of underage and problem 
gaming and promotion of responsible gaming 2008 was no 
exception and was marked by the introduction of a unique 
product called the observer observer was developed with
dr mark griffiths a chartered psychologist and professor 
of gambling studies at the nottingham trent university
a complex set of parameters including financial and 
behavioural data are used to flag up customers who might 
be at risk from becoming a problem gambler this data is 
analysed and investigated and action taken in partnership 
with the customer to prevent or resolve a potential problem 
situation
last year we launched a specialist website 
www888responsiblecom dedicated exclusively to 
responsible gaming it is a comprehensive site covering
all aspects of responsible gaming practices dealing with 
problem gambling and preventing underage gambling
in 2008 we also ran a specific campaign aimed at raising 
potential underage gamers and parents’ awareness of 
underage gambling issues
our 2009 focus
we believe that the combined b2cb2b model is an
essential key to growing the business successfully in 2009 
and therefore intend to continue focusing on both these lines 
of business 
we have taken the decision to operate b2b as a separate
business unit as our strategy for our b2b business is to 
become a leading provider of technology operations and 
knowledge to new entrants to the market using our existing 
capabilities the b2b business will be relaunched under 
a separate brand with its own sales force and we have 
appointed a separate managing director to the business 
we have a very strong pipeline with more than 50 deals
at various stages we will expand organically but will also 
look to grow our footprint through the acquisition of b2b 
technology enablers to accelerate our growth we have 
already announced a deal this year signed in january
focusing on continental europe and expect to announce 
more deals during the year
alongside the fast developing b2b business we will continue 
to focus on our b2c offerings with the introduction of a no 
download ‘games tab’ live dealer in europe and bingo 
into a number of additional european markets including 
spain these developments alongside further geographic 
expansion are expected to drive the growth of our b2c 
business even in these turbulent times 
16254888com frontindd   10 16254888com frontindd   10 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 11
16254 08042009 proof 8
third party games integration continues and 2009 will see a 
major step as the platform will become a full multicurrency 
offering allowing customers to play localised games that
appeal to them in their local language in their local currency
this is expected to have a positive impact on both our b2c 
and b2b businesses 
outlook
our plans for 2009 will be to both grow our player base and 
maximise customers’ life time value — for both us and our 
b2b partners — by offering new and innovative products 
our b2b business which saw the first full year of operation 
in 2008 is already showing further growth in 2009
our sustained performance in b2c will be achieved by 
a continued focus on customer needs and the growing 
attractiveness of our offering specifically opening up our 
platform to integration with games created by other vendors 
will continue delivering customers with ongoing innovation 
in 2009 
the combination of our leading b2c business and our fast
growing b2b business gives us a very good base for growth
in 2009 and beyond
the broader economic climate remains challenging as does 
the weakness of the european currencies affecting our us 
reported revenues however whilst remaining cautious in
our outlook we are confident our customers will continue to 
enjoy our services and that the overall strength and resilience 
of the business will ensure we weather this turbulent period 
well just as we managed to grow market share after the 
industry was hit by the closure of the us market we are
confident we will outperform the market in these challenging 
times and continue to grow our business
gigi levy
chief executive ofﬁ cer
16254888com frontindd   11 16254888com frontindd   11 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 12
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review
financial summary 
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008
1
2007
1
change
 million million 
revenue
casino 1351 1181 14
poker 772 808 4
emerging offerings 445 144 208
total revenue 2568 2134 20
other operating income 57 36
total operating income 2625 2169 21
operating expenses
2
 773 591 
research and development expenses 274 235 
selling and marketing expenses 802 709 
administrative expenses
34
 220 179 
ebitda
134
 557 455  23
finance income and exchange gains 03 61
depreciation and amortisation 73 58
profit before tax from continuing operations
4
 486 458 6
“as a result of strong revenue growth 
stable marketing to turnover ratio 
maintaining cost control and better 
management of resources ebitda

 
increased by 22 to 56 million 2007 
46 million ebitda

 margin increased 
slightly to 212 2007 210”
 adjusted see further details below
financial results
general
the group achieved strong financial results in 2008 with 
toi increasing by 21 to 263 million 2006 217 million 
ebitda
34
 increasing by 23 to 56 million 2007 46 million 
profit before tax
4
 increasing 6 to 49 million 2007 46 million 
and basic earnings per share
4
 increasing 8 to 134¢ 
2007 124¢ the group continued to be highly cash 
generative with net cash generated from operating activities 
increasing 22 to 56 million 2007 46 million and its financial 
position remains strong as ever with cash and equivalents at 
year end at 98 million with no debt 2007 us104 million 
turnover growth was particularly strong in emerging 
offerings mainly bingo generating 45 million in 2008 
2007 14 million
excellent growth was achieved during the first nine months of 
2008 in august the group reported record half year results 
and a seventh consecutive period of semiannual growth with 
revenue from core operations boosted by the successful launch 
of 888ladies and 888sport growth continued until september 
when performance was impacted by the global economic 
crisis and extreme volatility in exchange rates our underlying 
business was not immune to these unprecedented conditions 
although our core business remained solid
1
 rounded
2
 excluding depreciation of us55 million 2007 us42 million and amortisation of us18 million 2007 us 16 million
3
 excluding exchange rate loss of us 26 million 2007 gain of us11 million
4
 excluding share benefit charges of us 84 million 2007 us78 million
16254888com frontindd   12 16254888com frontindd   12 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 13
16254 08042009 proof 8
geographical segmentation 
as the table below illustrates in 2008 888’s turnover grew in all reported geographic markets led by 28 in europe excluding 
uk followed by 23 in the americas excluding usa 15 in the uk and 13 in the rest of the world 
toi by geographical market 
 year ended year ended 2008
 31 december 2008
1
 31 december 2007
1
 growth
total operating income  million  share  million  share 
uk 1074 41 930 43  15
europe excl uk 1150 44 901 42 28
americas excl usa 221 8 180 8 23
rest of world 179 7 159 7 13
total 2626 100 2169 100 21
1  
rounded
as a result of the strong revenue growth during the year 
in europe excluding the uk this region now represents 
44 of 888’s toi 2007 42 followed by the uk at 41 
americas excluding usa at 8 and the rest of the 
world at 7 
expenses
during 2008 the group continued its investment in 
infrastructure as required to enable its b2b capabilities while 
continuing the development of its b2c offerings
operating expenses which include mainly salaries 
chargebacks returned echeques and payment service 
providers’ commissions totalled 846 million 2007 649 
million representing 32 of toi 2007 30 salaries and 
benefits representing the largest component of operating 
expenses increased by 30 to 403 million 2007 310 
million reflecting the investment in infrastructure required to 
complete the buildup of our b2b line of business 
chargebacks increased during the year to 48 million in 
2008 2007 28 million however when combined with 
expenses related to commisions paid to payment service 
providers 153 million 2007 134 million the total 201 
million 2007 162 million represents a stable ratio to toi 
76 2007 75 this shift between these cost items is a 
result of the group’s efficient implementation of processing 
optimisation aimed at increased processing volume and an 
increased approval rate while keeping overall costs stable 
finally given that 2007 comparative figures represent less than 
seven months of bingo activity the comparable ratio reflects 
enhanced efficiency 
research and development expenses increased in 2008 by 
17 to 274 million 2007 235 million this was primarily 
a result of necessary investment in the group’s technological 
infrastructure and upgrading b2b capabilities to become a 
service provider to business partners and due to adverse 
currency movements during the first three quarters of the year 
16254888com frontindd   13 16254888com frontindd   13 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 14
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
marketing expenses during the year were 802 million 
2007 709 million representing a 31 ratio to toi 2007 
33 and well within our target 
attracting valuable new customers at the right cost is a key 
driver of 888’s business profitability in 2008 the group 
continued to focus on attracting and retaining customers 
from selected segments aiming to maximise customer life 
time value and maximum return on marketing cost during 
the year 888’s marketing team recruited more than 246000 
new casino and poker first time depositors “ftds” from 
more than 11 million new real money registrations with an 
average cost per acquisition “cpa” in 2008 of 232 
2007 225
administrative expenses
1
 increased by 22 to 220 
million 2007 179 million the increase in administrative 
expenses during the year is attributable mainly to a 26 
million foreign exchange loss 2007 gain of 11 million 
and a 22 million adverse currency effect within the salary 
component in this line item 
share benefit charges
as part of 888’s commitment to invest in human capital 
eligible management and employees receive equity awards 
under the 888 all employee share plan “share plan” in 
2008 the group continued to award shares and options to 
employees under the share plan the noncash charge for 
2008 was 84 million 2007 78 million comprising a 
22 million charge relating to grants in the current year 
2007 18 million and 62 million relating to grants made 
in the past
finance income
with the group continuing to generate and retain cash 
surpluses throughout the year net interest income was 30 
million 2007 50 million reflecting the sharp decrease in 
interest rates compared to previous years
ebitda
as a result of strong revenue growth a stable marketing 
to turnover ratio maintaining cost control and better 
management of resources we increased ebitda
1
 by 23 
to 56 million 2007 46 million ebitda
1
 margin increased 
slightly to 212 2007 210
taxation
the tax charge for 2008 was 31 million 2007 32 million 
reflecting the group’s efficient tax position
1
  before share benefit charges of us84 million 2007 
us78 million and exchange rate losses of us26 
million 2007 gains of us11 million
2
  before share benefit charges of us84 million 2007 
us78 million
profit and earnings per share
profit before tax
2
 increased during the year 6 to 486 
million 2007 458 million and basic earnings per share
2
 
increased 8 to 134¢ in 2008 2007 124¢
 
dividend 
the group’s stated policy is that it intends generally making 
an annual dividend payment representing 50 of profits after 
tax and the policy would also reflect longterm earnings and 
cash flow potential of the group on 27 october 2008 the 
company paid an interim dividend of 25 cents per share 
totalling 86 million 2007 interim dividend totalling 61 
million given the strong financial performance in 2008 the 
board recommends a final dividend of 29 cents per share 
cash flow
the group’s strong profitability during the year was matched 
by strong cash generation with net cash generated from 
operating activities reaching 564 million 2007 462 
million representing 101 ratio to ebitda
2
 
during 2008 the group made cash payments of 367 
million 2007 200 million in investment activities — 
principally the final payment in respect of the 2007 bingo 
acquisition and the ongoing acquisition of technology 
equipment in addition the group returned 256 million 
2007 362 million in dividends to its shareholders 
consistent with its dividend policy
balance sheet 
the group’s balance sheet remains strong the group has 
no debt and retains ample liquid resources the group’s 
cash position as at 31 december 2008 was 984 million 
31 december 2007 1043 million this strong position 
allows the group to benefit from suitable acquisition 
opportunities in the consolidating market
balances owed to customers increased to 333 million 2007 
264 million representing natural growth in the business 
the group maintains 100 cash reserves to cover immediate 
withdrawal of all customer deposits at will at any time 
16254888com frontindd   14 16254888com frontindd   14 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 15
16254 08042009 proof 8
marketing
2008 was a very busy and highly successful year for 888’s 
industry leading marketing activities
we believe that marketing is a key component in the success 
of both of our newly launched products 888sport and 
888ladies this was recognised by the industry magazine 
egaming review which presented 888ladies with its 
prestigious bingo operator of the year award
888 was also named the magazine’s casino of the year for 
the third successive year and picked up the “land links 
partnership of the year” award given to the operator which 
forged ahead with bridging the gap between offline and 
online in the most innovative way during 2008
winning three egaming awards in addition to being 
nominated in an industryleading nine different categories 
yet again confirmed 888’s position as an industry leader
in addition to the egaming awards 888 also won leisure 
report’s “best betting  gaming award” for 2008 for the 
second successive year as well as its “operator of the year” 
award a category in which 888 beat strong opposition from 
not only the gaming sector but the leisure industry as a whole
another example of 888’s innovation its inhouse customer 
magazine “eight” was awarded the influential “most effective 
membership” title at the 2008 association of publishing 
agencies apa effectiveness awards the award was given 
by the apa in the uk and is one of the most coveted prizes 
for an inhouse publication
the magazine was mailed to all of the group’s casino and 
poker customers in the uk and contains lifestyle features and 
gaming content seeking to further cement the relationship 
between 888 and its players
888 strategic review
888 has addressed the evolving challenges of the 
competitive landscape in the egaming industry by 
transforming its business into two separate lines of business 
“b2c” and “b2b”
888’s growth strategy is to maintain its position as one of the 
leading operators in the industry serving consumers worldwide 
under its various b2c brands b2c but also to become a 
leading provider of technology operations and knowhow to 
business partners using its existing capabilities b2b
within its b2c division 888 continues to promote its 
consumer targeted offering under its own brands including 
casino poker sportsbetting bingo backgammon and 
live dealer 
 
b2c
from being a provider of casino poker and bingo in 
2007 888 is now a comprehensive provider of all gaming 
segments including the four cornerstones of online gaming 
casino poker sportsbetting and bingo and additional 
secondary products backgammon and live dealer casino 
this expansion and diversification of our offering can be seen 
in the rapid growth in our “emerging offerings” segment 
including bingo sportsbook live dealer casino and 
backgammon and b2b income from us14 million in 2007 
to us45 million in 2008 
our offerings have become more geographically diverse and 
have been complemented by product expansion in existing 
territories we have invested in two completely new regions 
— southeast asia and south america we introduced 
localised products appealing directly to asian consumers 
where consumers’ tastes are quite different to our traditional 
markets in the uk and continental europe south america 
showed healthy growth and is a region where poker is a 
popular pastime for the first time 888 has also expanded 
into eastern europe and has the infrastructure in place for a 
more aggressive 2009 our offerings have been translated 
into new languages russian polish romanian latvian 
estonian lithuanian hungarian and bulgarian we have 
also established local relationships and partnerships with 
business development and marketing firms to allow us to 
maximize our potential in these jurisdictions
this marketleading offering and expansion strategy will 
continue to be the foundation of our business
16254888com frontindd   15 16254888com frontindd   15 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 16
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
branding 
888’s brand awareness continues to be one of its key 
strengths within the sector the ‘enjoy the game’ tagline 
remains one of the most wellknown phrases in the gaming 
industry and this has been heightened by use across europe 
within the sportsbook product and through extended media 
coverage over the last year via its sports sponsorships 
partnerships and associations 
sports sponsorships partnerships and 
associations
888 has a long history of ground breaking innovative sports 
sponsorships across various fields and geographies including 
football snooker speedway motorcycle racing and darts to 
name a few the 888com world snooker championship 
the highlight of the snooker year and one of the major events 
in the british sporting calendar took place in april 2008 at 
the crucible theatre in sheffield 
the event was televised for nearly three weeks by the bbc 
resulting in over 140 hours of primetime 888sport branding 
on every player’s waistcoat and on all advertising boards in 
the crucible arena
in addition 888 became the official partner of the world’s 
number one ranked player and current world champion 
ronnie o’sullivan this partnership enabled us to maximise 
our investment in the 2008 888com world snooker 
championship creating increased media coverage and 
generating a significant number of first time depositors ftds 
within the recently launched 888sport as well as increasing 
turnover figures 
888 also sponsored former world snooker champion john 
higgins who over the last twelve months played in a number 
of online poker tournaments and attended a number of 
media interviews
888 also offered those at the venue an opportunity to 
join 888sport at the event itself and to place wagers on 
the snooker over the three week period which proved a 
succesful initiative  
cricketer shane warne one of the world’s most recognisable 
sporting stars was also employed by 888 in the last twelve 
months as an ambassador he captained the 888 poker 
team in both australia and the united kingdom 
shane competed in the world series the european world 
series the aussie millions and the 888com open always 
wearing 888com branded clothing generating notable media 
coverage wherever he went including a significant number 
of national and international television radio and press 
interviews  
our shirt sponsorship with one of spain’s biggest football 
clubs sevilla fc has also seen 888 achieve a significant 
amount of global media exposure as seville competed in 
tournaments against high profile european football teams 
888’s partnership with sevilla is another in a line of sports 
sponsorships the group has engaged in to promote the 
brand and to generate ftds
in germany sponsorship of former star football player 
thomas brodric has seen him endorse and compete in 
a number of poker tournaments whilst in australia 888 
has sponsored the world famous former boxer and trainer 
jeff fenech in a number of high profile international poker 
tournaments during 2008
recognising the success of these partnerships 888 was 
awarded the egaming awards 2008 “landlinks partnership 
of the year” with the judges noting “888’s linkups were 
innovative and welltimed with impressive results”
the future
we are set to see even more exposure through our various 
sponsorships and associations throughout 2009 
with the ashes set to captivate the hearts and minds of two 
nations our continued association with shane warne during 
this period will ensure that 888 receives more than its fair 
share of branding 
we plan to grow even bigger do even better and conquer 
even more horizons
we will still be 888 we will still urge customers to ‘enjoy the 
game’ but we will do it in a bigger and better way than 
ever before
customer relationship management
the group continues to recognise the importance of 
customer loyalty as building strong relationships leads to 
people playing more games more often for more time the 
customer relationship management ‘crm’ team aims to 
ensure that 888 customers feel valued and continue to enjoy 
the game
the crm team is split into two departments one focusing 
on the group’s broader market customer base and the other 
on vip customers
16254888com frontindd   16 16254888com frontindd   16 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 17
16254 08042009 proof 8
in order to reinforce loyalty and ultimately increase customer 
spend a number of initiatives were undertaken in 2008 key 
to crm is giving people the right messages at the most 
opportune times — successfully segmenting customers 
in order to provide them with opportunities that appeal to 
them directly the group’s commitment to localisation helps 
strengthen relationships with customers and provides an 
opportunity for the crm team as our product offerings 
become increasingly tailored to individual markets the crm 
team developed and implemented many promotions across 
geographic areas during the year 
alongside the eyecatching front of house promotions 
improvements in back room support also help to ensure 
that customers keep coming back to 888 improvements 
in analytical processing in 2008 have helped to identify 
customers struggling with technical issues for example 
customers having difficulties depositing money are identified 
and contacted personally within ten minutes
2008 has also seen the opening of further communication 
channels through which the group is able to contact 
customers the magazine ‘eight’ remains popular amongst 
customers and direct mail has now been  augmented with 
sms messaging — further personalising the customer 
relationship sms coupled with targeted segmentation of 
the customer base helps players now receive information 
of immediate interest to them immediately promotions and 
tournament reminders being delivered in this way also help to 
drive traffic online
the group’s marketleading vip department builds real 
oneonone relationships with vips so that 888 remains their 
online gaming operator of choice vip account managers 
representatives are available in ten languages to provide the 
highest level of personal support
our vip program was expanded in 2008 to offer this 
personal service across the group’s gaming portfolio the 
launch of 888ladies was followed by the introduction of gold 
ladies and vip services were introduced for pacific poker 
and 888sport customers vip services are set to roll out 
across further areas of the 888 portfolio throughout 2009
alongside handson account management relationships with 
vips are strengthened through exclusive promotions and 
offline events in 2008 over 80 promotions were run for vips 
with various prizes as well as large bonuses as a means to 
further personalising interaction between vips and 888 40 
different offline events were held in nine different countries all 
personally hosted by an 888 vip account manager
search and web optimisation technologies 
“swot”
888’s swot team utilise proprietary techniques developed 
over almost a decade designed to optimise customer 
recruitment swot is much more than traditional simple 
search engine optimisation successful use of swot helped 
to exploit the opportunity provided by the launch of 888ladies 
and 888sport to increase the acquisition of players through 
these new channels especially in the united kingdom 
increasing search engine visibility also helped drive player 
acquisition success in other markets worldwide notably 
canada and the scandinavian countries 
the group will continue to focus on swot in order to 
maximise the impact of the product offering and new 
launches in 2009 will bring further customer acquisition 
opportunities 
16254888com frontindd   17 16254888com frontindd   17 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 18
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
our offering
888’s core product offerings casino poker bingo and 
sport together with its secondary offerings live dealer and 
backgammon are available to end customers under 888’s 
various b2c brands and also through carefully selected 
strategic b2b partners where 888 acts a service provider 
including sportech — uk rileys — uk tower torneos — 
latin america lucky ace — europe and poker dome — 
australia
casino
888’s primary online casino brand casino on net had a 
successful year in 2008 — building on its strengths and 
continuing to innovate in order to retain its position as the 
leading online casino in the world continued improvements 
to the customer experience coupled with the addition of 
popular new games helped driving revenue levels with toi 
from casino increasing 15 in 2008 to us139 million
during 2008 the group focused on the integration of many 
new games whilst maintaining its core propositions of trust 
and simplicity alongside firstclass customer service 
888’s strategy is to create a 360 degree gaming ecosystem 
offering best in class casino and soft games ‘blockbusters’ 
being built in house and a wide choice of games introduced 
through integration ensuring that the site stays fresh and 
888 remains a one stop shop for all casino and gaming 
requirements through providing customers with a large 
variety of choice and entertainment in the localised formats 
that appeal most to them 888 continues to expand its target 
audience
as 888’s gaming arena becomes broader through the 
continued internal development of sophisticated games and 
the integration of external content the group has sought to 
seek partners that can keep adding novelty to the offering 
throughout 2008 888 carefully selected ‘bestofbreed’ 
partners to provide these innovative and attractive additional 
games a total of 22 new games have been integrated to 
date onto the 888 platform and the group continues to work 
to add further exciting games to complement its current 
offering 
in addition to increasing the range and quality of games 
on offer through the integration of new games the group 
continues to improve its offering and provide customers 
with uptodate and relevant offerings to match their gaming 
needs the live dealer casino has continued to be popular 
and additional video slot games were developed inhouse 
throughout the course of the year often these games would 
be themed around a major worldwide event such as the 
olympic games and european football championships 
helping to drive customers regularly back to the site in the 
knowledge that there will be new and innovative content 
a revamp of the casino lobby helped to keep a cutting edge 
look and feel of the site and changes to the ‘no download’ 
offering helped to make it easier for new users to begin 
playing as 888 customers additional games were added to 
the ‘no download’ offering in five different languages and 
further improvements are planned for 2009
in order to expand the worldwide appeal of the offering 
as well as the games being targeted for specific regions 
and demographics so are the languages and currencies in 
which they can be played casino on net is now available in 
14 different languages and 2009 will see the group take a 
major step as the platform will become a fully multicurrency 
offering allowing customers to play localised games that 
appeal to them in their local language and currency
16254888com frontindd   18 16254888com frontindd   18 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 19
16254 08042009 proof 8
888 enjoyed a steady level of revenues and active customer 
casino participation in 2008 until a disappointing q4 
due to the prolonged and deepening economic downturn 
unprecedented challenging trading conditions were 
experienced following the end of the summer holiday season 
active customers played slightly less and the strengthening 
us exacerbated the impact on reported us denominated 
revenues 
poker
the group has continued to further the global reach of its 
poker operations and as a result the market share of its 
poker network among networks that do not accept us 
players has increased during 2008 2008 saw an expansion 
in pacific poker’s offering with the launching of localised 
websites in 11 new languages russian polish czech 
bulgarian hungarian romanian lithuanian latvian 
estonian greek and japanese the group offers a global 
poker room in which customers can find the game of their 
choice at the time of their choice in the language of their 
choice
888 has continued to take steps to enrich the user 
experience features were introduced across the year to 
maintain customers’ engagement including the addition 
of advanced community tools and localized content while 
ongoing promotions and regular bigmoney events provided 
incentives for players to continue to play regularly 
the regular pacific poker events were bolstered in 2008 
through the introduction of the world poker crown the 
wpc had a guaranteed minimum prize pool of us3 million 
making it the largest single event of its kind offered to the 
nonus market traffic was driven to the site as qualifiers 
were played out exclusively through pacific poker with 
daily and weekly online tournaments being run customised 
to match 888’s geographic customer base profiles the 
qualifiers ended with an online final in april deciding the eight 
participants to go forward to the 888 branded offline final 
held in peralada spain
improvements to the poker platform allowed the group 
to make significant advancements in monetising players 
with the unification of the popular ‘demo’ mode into the 
real money environment which helped customers transfer 
seamlessly from demo to real money play system updates 
also allow 888’s customer relationship managers to monitor 
individual customers’ playing habits and tailor marketing 
activities accordingly providing players with the opportunities 
that will most appeal to them
as 888 changes into a one stop shop for all online gaming 
entertainment needs crossselling opportunities are further 
exploited the launch of 888’s sportsbetting platform 
888sport was followed quickly by the introduction of sport in 
poker providing customers with the opportunity to play across 
different 888 products using a single login and a unified wallet 
the group will continue to ensure that customers have the 
best possible gaming experience and there will be a number 
of customer facing improvements carried out during 2009 
the pacific poker site will be given a new look and feel 
with additional products and poker side bets enhancing the 
customer experience of the poker room 
casino kpis
year 2007 2008
quarter 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
total revenue us’000 25952 27900 28992 35276 35015 35459 34350 30245
active customers 70769 72362 72847 73737 77370 77837 77949 72762
total revenue per active customer us 367 386 398 478 453 456 441 416
 total revenue figures rounded
these constant improvements and our refusal to rest on our 
laurels have helped the casino to maintain its position as the 
number one online casino a fact recognised as the group 
was proud to be awarded the prestigious egaming awards 
2008 casino operator of the year the judges noted that “888 
continues its global reach and market leading position in this 
category retaining the title of casino operator of the year”
16254888com frontindd   19 16254888com frontindd   19 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 20
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
levels of poker active players and revenue held up well until 
the last quarter 888 enjoyed steady levels of active customer 
poker participation and revenue in 2008 until a disappointing 
q4 due to the prolonged and deepening economic 
downturn unprecedented challenging trading conditions 
were experienced following the end of the summer holiday 
season active customers played slightly less and volatile 
adverse foreign exchange movements exacerbated the effect 
on us denominated revenues 
combined casino and poker kpis
as more customers continue to migrate onto the group’s 
unified offering the distinction between casino and poker 
revenue becomes more and more difficult as a result the 
group reports it’s kpis for the combined casino and poker 
activity in the table above
bingo
following the acquisition of the bingo business in 2007 
which enabled 888 to enter the bingo arena as a major white 
label network operator february 2008 saw a milestone in 
the evolution of 888’s bingo offering — the launch of the 
new 888 bingo network 888ladies the site was positioned 
to appeal to a whole new market for the group and has 
been a huge success a high profile television advertising 
campaign starring vic reeves aligned with positive customer 
experiences helped to quickly establish the network with 
over 2500 daily active players and over 30000 real money 
players
there are 10 bingo rooms four of which are open 24 hours 
a day seven days a week which offer a number of bingo 
variants customers can play 7590 ball bingo and buy 
tickets for big cash games including an £8888 jackpot once 
a month 
888ladies is not simply an online bingo room and the 
group has worked to crystallise its position as a leading 
entertainment and content destination for women enhancing 
customer satisfaction and retention levels through providing 
a dynamic surprising and inclusive online experience
regular promotions give customers a reason to return and 
blogs and chat rooms help to personalise relationships 
editorial capabilities have also been developed both in regards 
to topic variety and content and an increased number of new 
editorials offered to customers on a daily basis
 
the group has continued to strengthen the community feel 
of the site a feeling engendered through a combination 
of friendly welcoming moderators who follow customers 
throughout their stay within 888’s bingo rooms and a 
website that includes a variety of interaction opportunities 
chat tools and venues
888’s community platform allows customer retention 
teams to chat interact with customers and observe their 
behaviour and when combined with the latest technology 
developments including rss feeds and web 20 widgets 
888 is able to offer customers what they want and truly 
personalise their experience 888ladies links what people 
read consume and win ranging from personalised online 
horoscopes bonuses and invitations to play on birthdays 
and lucky days to games themed after the brands 888’s 
customers care the most about such as their favourite tv 
show or celebrity the group was proud to be awarded 
year 2007 2008
quarter 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
total revenue us’000 46870 47790 47582 56695 56918 55215 53003 47185
active customers 205907 208876 209811 209918 213115 214725 216727 201119
total revenue per active customer us 228 229 227 270 267 257 245 235
 total revenue figures rounded
poker kpis
year 2007 2008
quarter 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
total revenue us’000 20918 19890 18590 21419 21903 19756 18653 16940
active customers 168066 166772 168105 170401 170988 169898 169607 158557
total revenue per active customer us 124 119 111 126 128 116 110 107
 total revenue figures rounded
16254888com frontindd   20 16254888com frontindd   20 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 21
16254 08042009 proof 8
bingo operator of the year at the egaming awards 2008 
recognising the success of the offering
in 2009 the group will look to expand the bingo platform 
globally we aim to establish a presence in continental 
european countries by the end of the year we will also be 
launching new networks and skins in additional languages 
and with localised multicurrency support enhanced 
customer features will also ensure that the 888 bingo offering 
remains best of breed
sportsbetting
the launch of a sports betting platform in march was a 
significant milestone for the group following the introduction 
of 888sport the group became a comprehensive provider 
of all gaming segments the international launch reinforced 
888’s strategy of creating a large community of people 
consuming entertainment content online sportsbetting is 
also customer acquisition and retention tool and enables 888 
to crosssell from its existing products
888sport is an international sports betting offering with 
editorial content and sports and betting selections as well 
as live inrunning betting and coverage of a large number of 
sports including uk and irish horseracing uk european 
and international football greyhound racing golf cricket 
rugby tennis novelty events such as big brother and many 
more
888sport is offered in seven markets with fully tailored and 
localised languagespecific offerings in all areas allowing 
customers to bet on events of relevance to them in the 
currency of their choice over the course of the year 
888sport was rolled out in a further four countries
the offering was developed in conjunction with blue square 
one of the most popular and wellestablished sportsbooks in 
the uk as a result of the partnership 888 is able to rely on 
blue square’s experience in trading and risk management to 
reduce the risks associated with this business allowing the 
group to concentrate on fulfilling its strategy of crossselling 
its sports betting services to its existing customer base whilst 
leveraging its robust multichannel marketing engines to 
acquire new sportsbook customers globally
the offering was combined with a high profile advertising 
campaign targeting new customers around specific events 
ranging from euro 2008 and the olympics to major horse 
races such as the cheltenham festival and the grand 
national with localised campaigns and promotions 
coinciding with the start of local football leagues existing 
sport related sponsorships such as seville football club and 
the 888 world snooker championship also helped to build 
the awareness of the 888sport brand 
16254888com frontindd   21 16254888com frontindd   21 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 22
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
the group sees further opportunities in sportsbetting 
the launch of an improved ‘in play’ application taking in 
a wider variety of live events the addition of new content 
and statistics and the introduction of soft games will help to 
further improve the player experience 2009 will also see the 
expansion of the sport offering through further expansion of 
888sport into key territories and white label agreements
epayments
improvements to the epayments offering played a significant 
role in underpinning some of 888’s key strategic initiatives in 
2008 helping to personalise the customer experience and 
localise the offering
the focus on attractive front of house options is matched by 
888’s stateoftheart payments processing system which 
offers both cuttingedge back office functionality and an 
advanced cashier interface the cashier user interface was 
significantly upgraded this year to include the implementation 
of live person interactive chat which is proactively initiated 
by the support team this gives customers the opportunity 
to get live help from an 888 agent assisting in improving 888 
customers’ playing and depositing experience whilst at the 
same time increasing cash conversions
 
when customers sign up with 888 they can deposit using a 
range of payment options tailored to suit their local market 
based on their physical location from which they can 
choose their preferred payment method as a truly global 
provider of gaming entertainment it is important that 888 
offers customers the games relevant to them in their local 
language with the choice of their preferred payment method 
this was illustrated by the rollout of 888sport which is now 
offered in seven markets each in the local language and all 
in the local currency a multicurrency bonus feature was also 
added across the service offering
constant improvements in payment processing have seen 
a total of 11 new languages added to the client interface 
improving penetration in untapped and emerging gaming 
markets 888 will continue to add variety of localised 
payment methods offered worldwide for the benefit of 
customers
2009 will see further improvements to 888’s payment 
systems starting in the first quarter with the now completed 
integration of paypal the world’s best known ewallet into 
the 888 cashier for countries where paypal may be sued 
for gaming payments the group will also implement a 
new multifunctional cashout client with additional cashout 
methods significantly increasing customers’ ability to 
receive their winnings easily and efficiently while greatly 
reducing the number of chargebacks and the risk of 
fraudulent transactions this will improve the user experience 
as well as further streamline and enhance the cashout 
process for customers 
b2b
888 has always been at the forefront of developments in the 
internet gaming industry a pioneer and leader in the b2c 
industry 888 made the strategic decision in 2007 to lead 
the way in becoming the largest b2c operator to move into 
the b2b arena capitalising on its experiences as a b2c 
operator for well over a decade 888 is uniquely positioned to 
work with carefully selected strategic partners who are either 
aiming to monetise their existing database brand loyalty 
and media assets or looking to enhance their existing online 
gaming operations 
888 has already secured a number of high profile agreements 
which highlight both the potential of this strategic direction 
and 888’s unique position as a leading operator offering a full 
service model in the b2b field 
16254888com frontindd   22 16254888com frontindd   22 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 23
16254 08042009 proof 8
this b2b business move began in 2007 with agreements 
with riley’s tower torneos and lucky ace 2008 has seen 
an acceleration in b2b development with several more 
deals in western central and eastern europe including 
the groundbreaking partnership with the uk football pools 
sportech plc highlighting the potential for 888 in this area 
the development and growth of the b2b business is an 
integral part of the 888’s growth strategy for 2009 and 
beyond
it was the signing in june 2008 of a strategic partnership 
with sportech that saw a stepchange in 888’s b2b 
activities as 888 started providing a full managed service 
including all technology operations and marketing of 
sportech’s leading littlewoods brand 
888 provides littlewoods with a full turnkey solution 
including its marketleading gaming and backend software 
customer support and payments processing services 888 
also provides advanced marketing services to littlewoods 
marketing brand and customer base helping to extend the 
reach of littlewoods’ business this agreement represented 
the full evolution of 888’s b2b offering — total gaming 
services — and is a milestone agreement
internal restructuring
as part of a restructuring of the 888 team to facilitate the 
growth in 888’s b2b model 888 has appointed a dedicated 
b2b managing director and recruited a specialist b2b sales 
and marketing team the ideal platform for delivering new 
deals in 2009
as the b2b business expands it has become of increasing 
commercial importance to have a clear division from 888’s 
b2c business accordingly 888 is in the process of selecting 
and developing a new brand under which to market its 
b2b business whilst promoting the strengths of 888’s core 
knowledge and experience as an operator this move clearly 
differentiates the b2b business as a separate and distinct 
part of the 888 group 
a marketing strategy is currently being devised to roll out this 
new b2b brand and will be designed to enhance visibility 
amongst the media and target markets of 888’s growing 
b2b business activities will include advertising and pr in 
core trade and business magazines key speaker positions 
and trade stands at leading conferences and exhibitions and 
sponsorship of industry events 
‘total gaming services’ is the strapline that will underpin the 
unique positioning in the market for 888’s b2b business this 
reflects the opportunity for clients to not only benefit from 
888’s decade of experience in technology and operations 
but also utilise the advanced marketing services through 
the provision of offlineonline marketing management of 
affiliates seo crm and business analytics 
in addition to developing the b2b team 888 has also 
restructured the rest of its group in order to create 
independent departments in such areas as research  
development and customer care focusing separately on 
both the b2b and b2c businesses this move enabled 888 
to scale the service to the growing requirements of its b2b 
clients and helped the b2b business in meeting existing 
project delivery timescales increasing the speed to market 
for new clients and maximising profitability of the business 
this restructuring augmented the independent b2b business 
that was structured as a separate business unit with several 
departments in it focused entirely on b2b partners sales 
 business development programs  integrations client 
executive unit client marketing  operations b2b marketing 
and pr and b2b finance
16254888com frontindd   23 16254888com frontindd   23 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 24
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
new partners
888 sees three main sources of new b2b partners i 
existing online gaming operators searching for additions to 
their existing suite of gaming products or to replace entirely 
their current software suppliers ii media companies and 
landbased casinos looking to monetise their brands and 
iii lottery companies seeking experienced online gaming 
partners with a heritage of successful business delivery and 
strong responsible gaming systems and capabilities that can 
facilitate a smooth transition from leadership in landbased 
gaming to significant marketshare holding and combat the 
threat of competition 
new entrants to the online gaming market require a 
technology platform to work with expertise in setting up 
operations and above all knowledge of how to leverage 
their assets and target the gaming consumer 888’s 
experience through operating its own b2c businesses 
makes it well positioned to partner with these new entrants 
to mutual advantage
bingo
the successful acquisition of globalcom in may 2007 gave 
the group a perfect springboard to enter into the b2b bingo 
arena providing software customer support and payment 
processing to some of the premium bingo partners in 
the uk
utilising these acquired foundations 888 is also a leading 
player in bingo b2b providing solutions to business partners 
operating their own networks and other third party sites 888 
powers some of the most prominent players in the bingo 
market such as foxy bingo mirror bingo think bingo 
cheeky bingo bingo scotland and wink bingo 888 now 
has a white label network of more than 45 online bingo sites 
or “skins” including bingoballroomcom poshbingocom 
bingofabulouscom and twofatladiescouk 
888 plans to utilise its b2b platform to tap into new growth 
markets a perfect example of the implementation of this 
strategy was the launch of a localised spanish bingo offering 
in 2008 
poker
888’s b2b business offers a total gaming service solution 
for white label poker operators with a wide range of 
tournaments multilanguage capabilities and the most 
popular games new developments will include upgrading 
the existing poker client to create a new and improved player 
experience designed to get players to the right tables faster 
and playing more significant white label agreements have 
been launched with poker dome australia littlewoods 
uk and lucky ace europe all of whom have benefited 
from 888’s crm expertise in reducing churn rate activating 
dormant accounts and delivering increased returns the 
rapid development of new skins will further bolster activity 
enabling the network to grow and provide greater liquidity as 
new partners are integrated in 2009 
   
16254888com frontindd   24 16254888com frontindd   24 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 25
16254 08042009 proof 8
the b2b team is currently working on a strong transaction 
pipeline for 2009 with a number of deals at various stages 
across a variety of game offerings 2009 will mark a significant 
step forward in the development of the b2b business making 
an increased contribution to the profitability of the group the 
group believes that the b2b business will provide a significant 
portion of total revenues and profits by the financial year 2010
technological infrastructure
888’s technological strength has been its ability to develop 
and manage all aspects of its operations inhouse including 
software development this enabled 888 to produce a 
distinctive product and brand feel for its b2c offering and 
to exercise flexibility in relation to its online products and 
services implement efficiency in customer support and 
maximise the security of its system architecture
888’s information technology platform hosted in gibraltar 
consists of over 700 production and over 900 development 
servers and uses a fully integrated proprietary software 
infrastructure developed inhouse 888’s information 
technology infrastructure handles over two million visitors 
a day to its various websites with over 30000 customers 
playing concurrently at peak times substantial investment 
has been and continues to be made in 888’s choice of 
technology its architecture design planning systems and 
implementation the system architecture has been designed 
and built with security resilience and scalability as a priority 
which has underpinned the group’s growth in recent 
years 888 has invested millions of us dollars to enhance 
its technology platform using bestofbreed approach 
implementing solutions from the leading vendors cisco hp  
emc ca vmware etc 888 is also a recipient of the truste 
web privacy seal of approval for all its websites and online 
gaming activities truste runs the world’s largest privacy 
seal program with more than 2400 websites certified and 
reflects 888’s commitments to client privacy
in 2007 888 opened up its technological platform in order 
to become a b2b provider and enable easy integration 
with games from other providers this focused on a single 
point of integration to 888’s platform involved a number 
of infrastructure challenges and required technological 
advancements in 888’s backoffice capabilities 
in order to facilitate the addition of thirdparty games and to 
complement 888’s own core games with carefully selected 
‘bestofbreed’ partners an integration platform was 
developed and expanded during 2008 
the integration platform allows the integration of new third 
party games by multiple vendors especially new entrants to 
the markets who require a technology platform for games 
and back office facilities this industryleading integration 
infrastructure enables third party game providers to swiftly 
connect into 888’s gaming environment wallet cashier and 
customer support systems the almost turnkey addition 
of these games often with content to appeal to localised 
audiences has enabled 888 to introduce rapidly a diversified 
and localised offering to existing and new players worldwide
in total 22 new games were integrated onto the 888 
platform across 2008 and the group has now access 
to over 1000 new games from over 10 suppliers to 
complement its wider offering
in 2008 we also introduced a new financial transactions 
system enabling optimization as well as localization and 
customization of financial transaction processing based on 
customer preferences risk and cost considerations
we continue to invest in software development which takes 
place in our stateoftheart research development and 
marketing centre in a suburb of tel aviv supported by our 
recently added lower cost development location in eastern 
europe this investment has enabled 888 to add innovative 
slot machines to the existing homegrown offering of casino 
poker and backgammon games 2008 also saw multiple new 
releases of poker casino and bingo as well as a complete 
new offering — sports betting significantly enhancing 888’s 
offering
customer support and service
888 remains committed to its goal of being the market leader 
in the global online gaming industry including in respect of 
customer satisfaction
our customer service operation is staffed by dedicated 
teams of highly trained inhouse customer support 
representatives providing the highest levels of service and 
support for each of the group’s brands and white labels 
in 2008 we continued to invest in our support infrastructure 
and notably expanded our language portfolio we offer first
class customer support via email and telephone 24 hours 
a day 7 days a week to customers around the world in 14 
different languages our live chat service is now offered 
in four languages in 2008 we also launched 888sport 
supported in four languages and expanded pacific poker’s 
offering to 11 new languages 
the group has invested in industryleading technology 
provided by “rightnow technologies” to help support its 
online customer experience initiatives this investment 
allowed 888 to reduce its operational expenditure effectively 
manage its resources and gain valuable insight into its 
customers’ needs and preferences
excellent customer service continues to be a central tenet of 
the company’s offering the ongoing dialogue with clients is 
maintained by customer relationship management teams 
in two dedicated contact centres located in gibraltar and 
antigua
16254888com frontindd   25 16254888com frontindd   25 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 26
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
the main gibraltar contact centre focuses on providing 
support for our principal markets in europe asiapacific and 
latin america while the antiguan contact centre focused 
on supporting our englishspeaking markets in europe 
asia pacific and canada 
expert teams initiate outbound interaction with new and 
existing customers who may experience issues depositing 
into their respective 888 accounts our outbound teams 
proactively contact selected populations with the aim to 
update customers about special offers new products and to 
reactivate customers that have become inactive
during 2008 we introduced a new proactive chat application 
provided by “liveperson” with much success we also 
expanded those activities for more brands white labels and 
languages 888 also expanded available contact channels 
by offering the first ever promotion sent via sms targeting 
casino and bingo players
the contact centres continue to play a vital role in the 
successful launch of 888’s strategic partnerships such as 
luckyace poker dome and littlewoods
the support teams aim to close the majority of issues 
during the first contact as demonstrated in the customer 
performance figures attained in 2008
casino in english 
l 976 of all phone calls are answered within 25 seconds
l 990 of all emails are replied to within 24 hours
l 965 of all chats are answered within 30 seconds
poker in english
l 977 of all calls are answered within 25 seconds
l 985 of all emails are replied to within 24 hours
l 952 of all chats are answered within 35 seconds
bingo in english
l 948 of all calls are answered within 25 seconds
l 905 of all emails are replied to within 24 hours
l a total of 80046 chats were answered within the 
customary highest service level sla 
customer satisfaction
we continuously monitor customer satisfaction by requesting 
and analysing realtime feedback in 2008 we again 
conducted a comprehensive survey to benchmark 888’s 
service level within our primary markets 
respondents accredited their highest rating to the level of 
professionalism of our representatives and when compared 
to previous studies the results show a considerable increase 
in satisfaction most notably for our important german 
market 
l casino players rated the level of professionalism of our 
representatives at 420 out of 5
l poker players rated the level of professionalism of our 
representatives at 410 out of 5
l german players rated their overall satisfaction with 888’s 
customer support at 391 in 2007 and in 2008 rated their 
overall satisfaction at an impressive 417 out of 5
l casino players rated their overall satisfaction with the 
service received at 394 out of 5
l poker players rated their overall satisfaction with the 
service received at 374 out of 5
l response time ratings were 410 and 400 for casino 
and poker respectively out of 5
888’s unparalleled customer service and our leadership in 
the egaming industry have been repeatedly recognised and 
we were honoured to be named ‘best betting  gaming 
company 2008’ at the leisure report awards 
a vital component in maintaining and exceeding customer 
expectations is our ability to access each client’s full and 
complete history in real time thus optimising customer 
interactions on all levels customer contacts are strictly 
monitored to ensure quality and parity
16254888com frontindd   26 16254888com frontindd   26 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 27
16254 08042009 proof 8
888’s proprietary backoffice application is probably the 
most advanced application of its kind in the industry and 
functions as the backbone of our entire business operation 
data from various divisions is integrated and streamlined 
into a single point of reference and gives representatives 
from every department — customer support vip  risk 
management business production and finance — the tool 
to provide superior assistance to customers regardless of 
the department a query is directed to
responsible gaming
the group believes that its primary responsibility is to provide 
the best online gaming entertainment to its customers 
however the group acknowledges the potential danger 
that its games may pose for a small minority of people and 
it strives to reach excellence in its responsible gaming policy 
and ethical conduct
888 is devoted to promoting a responsible gaming culture 
within the organisation the aim is to raise awareness 
through education and to continuously provide staff with 
tools and training necessary to ensure a responsible gaming 
environment
we continuously monitor our policies and generate new 
innovative ways to foster caring and ethical gaming 
and above all to make certain our customers are safe 
responsible gaming is a key feature of our business strategy 
reflecting the seriousness we attach to the issue and the 
value we attribute to “caring” within the organisation 
training
the group has developed a global training programme 
whereby employees receive training on overall awareness of 
the group’s commitment and policies on responsible gaming 
and more specific and detailed knowledge depending on 
their specific business role
during the year we developed a further indepth second 
level specialized training day in association with gamcare 
for those employees whose role may possibly lead them to 
encounter problem gamers and those that handle difficult 
cases one of the first of its kind in the industry it covered 
topics such as the cycle of problem gambling psychology 
and temperament of problem gamblers and dealing with 
reactions we intend to repeat this specialized training 
in 2009
protecting customers
the group carries a gamcare certification gamcare is the 
leading authority on the provision of counselling advice and 
practical help in addressing the social impact of gambling in 
the uk the certification recognises gaming businesses that 
have successfully implemented robust policies and practices 
of social responsibility and player protection
as a responsible regulated gaming organisation we also 
comply with all guidelines published by our regulator in 
gibraltar and ecogra a nonprofit independent regulatory 
body based in the uk ecogra ensures that approved 
online casinos are properly and transparently monitored to 
provide player protection
protecting minors 
underage gambling on our sites is prohibited and the group 
takes the matter of underage gaming extremely seriously
our offerings are not designed to attract minors in 
compliance with our licensing obligations we proactively 
discourage persons under the age of 18 who attempt to play 
on any of our sites we use sophisticated verification systems 
to identify and track minors who log in to our software and 
we make every effort to prevent them from playing 
we have trained staff to be highly sensitive to the possibility 
of underage gambling whenever an account is suspected 
of belonging to an underage customer it is suspended until 
a full investigation has been carried out  
the group’s dedicated responsible gaming website 
888responsiblecom launched a new campaign in 2008 
aimed at raising potential underage gaming and parents’ 
awareness to the issue of underage gambling it includes an 
educational movie that tells the story of a mother who takes 
control of her underage gambling son an extreme situation 
which 888 as a company that cares for its clients will do 
everything in its power to help prevent
the group also adheres to the stringent rules concerning 
underage gambling established by the interactive gaming 
council igc of which 888 is a member
16254888com frontindd   27 16254888com frontindd   27 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 28
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
preventative measures
888 works closely with its customers in all aspects of the 
gambling experience if however that experience become a 
problem for the customer we work with them towards the 
best and most comfortable solution for them 
we have several established measures in place to help 
prevent gambling becoming a problem for players these 
include setting personal limits opportunities for self
exclusion during which time the customer will not receive 
any promotional material and a “gambling therapy” button 
providing customers with information and support to anyone 
affected by problem gaming
in addition during 2008 we implemented a totally unique 
proprietary project called the “observer” the aim of which 
is to develop a bespoke set of algorithms to identify 
patterns that are likely to indicate early problem gamblers 
we developed this data mining system in consultation with 
dr mark griffiths a chartered psychologist and professor 
of gambling studies at the nottingham trent university 
a complex set of parameters including financial and 
behavioural data are used to flag up any customers who 
might be at risk from becoming a problem gambler this 
data is analysed and investigated and then action taken 
in partnership with the customer to prevent or resolve a 
potential problem situation occurring
raising awareness and education
our specialist website www888responsiblecom is 
dedicated exclusively to responsible gaming it is a 
comprehensive site covering all aspects of responsible 
gaming practices dealing with problem gambling and 
preventing underage gambling in 2008 we ran a specific 
campaign aimed at raising potential underage gaming and 
parents’ awareness of the issue of underage gambling
a direct link is accessible to the site from all of 888’s sites 
we continue to support the work of the rigt responsibility 
in gambling trust through contributions to their educational 
programmes the aim of which is to help young people better 
understand the dangers of problem gaming and to help them 
develop the personal and social skills that are also relevant to 
a wide range of choices and not just to gambling
16254888com frontindd   28 16254888com frontindd   28 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 29
16254 08042009 proof 8
regulation and general 
regulatory developments
the regulatory framework of online gaming in different 
countries around the world is as dynamic and rapidly 
evolving as ever while some jurisdictions have moved to 
curtail the activities of online gaming sites many others are 
currently contemplating liberalization and regulation of the 
industry and some have already taken this route the board 
notes that there are significant risks unique to the online 
gaming industry including from activity with customers in 
the usa prior to the group’s withdrawal from the market 
in october 2006 when us customers of 888 generated 
55 of its total revenue the board remains committed 
to monitoring closely and addressing regulatory changes 
as they occur and to fostering so far as possible the 
trend towards liberalisation and regulation of online gaming 
throughout the world
gibraltar
888 is licensed and regulated in gibraltar 
european union eu
the european commission is challenging the online 
gambling and betting regulatory regimes of various european 
states as the commission holds that as regards eu licensed 
companies these regimes might infringe the enshrined 
freedom to provide services the freedom of establishment 
and the concept of mutual recognition this effort is reflected 
in inter alia the infringement proceedings initiated against 
several eu states — italy denmark finland germany 
hungary the netherlands sweden france austria and 
greece should these member states fail to supply adequate 
reasoning of their gambling legislation the commission may 
refer the issue with each member state to the european 
court of justice while these proceedings may in the end 
cause the european states to liberalise their gambling 
markets it should be noted that it could be a very long 
time before resolutions or judgments are reached if at all 
however the pressure exerted by the eu commission has 
resulted in several eu member states contemplating and in 
some cases advancing a liberalised gaming sector these 
member states include france spain sweden greece 
and denmark indeed the french budget minister recently 
presented a liberalisation scheme which will see according 
to the minister french licensed online gambling activities 
in 2010 
other eu member states such as ireland cyprus belgium 
estonia and the czech republic are also considering revising 
their gaming laws so as to possibly regulate online gaming 
in addition to these infringement proceedings the eu 
commission is involved in other instances in which the 
online gambling and betting regulatory regimes appear to 
contravene rights and freedoms of online gambling and 
betting operators eg issuing detailed opinions against the 
enactment of prohibitive legislation and intervening in the 
world trade organisation wto process described below
in march 2009 the eu parliament approved a report calling 
to inter alia respect the states’ rights to protect consumers 
fight crime and preserve the structures used to finance 
sport and social activities this report is to a large part 
inconsistent with the views held by the eu commission and 
lacks any formal operational impact 
in italy 888 holds a sports betting licence which allows 
it to offer sports betting services supervised by the state 
monopoly authority following regulations issued by the 
italian authorities in 2007 the licence will allow 888 to 
offer skill games including poker tournaments subject 
to receiving the proper authorisations from the italian 
authorities 
usawto
in the usa the unlawful internet gambling enforcement 
act uigea added a new section to the united states 
code making it illegal for anyone engaging in the business 
of betting or wagering to knowingly accept any credit 
electronic funds transfer check draft etc in connection 
with the participation of another person in unlawful 
internet gaming in essence the uigea prohibits online 
gambling operators from receiving the proceeds of financial 
transactions in connection with internet gaming if the gaming 
is illegal in the state where the bettor is located in addition 
the united states’ treasury department and federal reserve 
promulgated regulations that require financial institutions 
to implement measures intended to block transactions in 
connection with internet gaming these regulations entered 
into force on 19 january 2009 although their implementation 
date is delayed to 1 december 2009 in october 2006 the 
group stopped taking bets from us customers 
16254888com frontindd   29 16254888com frontindd   29 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 30
16254 08042009 proof 8
enhanced business review continued
on 5 june 2007 the group announced that it had initiated 
preliminary discussions with the united states attorney’s 
office for the southern district of new york regarding activity 
prior to enactment of the legislation it is too early to assess 
any particular outcome of these discussions
it was recently found by the world trade organisation that 
the us legislative position with respect to internet gambling 
violates us trade commitments following this decision 
the usa is seeking to withdraw its trade commitment in the 
sphere of gambling while several trade partners required 
compensation from the us following this withdrawal none 
of the agreements reached so far between the usa and 
trade partners have had an impact on the online gambling 
market antigua did not reach an agreement with the usa 
and applied to the wto to arbitrate a settlement between it 
and the usa in connection with the withdrawal of the usa 
commitment there are still ongoing negotiations between 
the us and antigua in this respect 
in december 2007 the remote gaming association a trade 
body representing several online gaming operators of which 
the group is a member filed a complaint with the european 
union against the usa in connection with the breach of its 
trade commitments following this complaint the european 
commission decided to open an investigation into whether 
the united states is in breach of its wto obligations in the 
sphere of gambling in relation to the period prior to the 
withdrawal of its commitment the investigation is expected 
to conclude during the first few months of 2009 at which 
date the commission will present its findings which could 
lead to the initiation of wto proceedings 
the board continues to monitor these developments closely 
and is alert to changes as they may occur in areas where the 
group operates
16254888com frontindd   30 16254888com frontindd   30 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 31
16254 08042009 proof 8
corporate social responsibility
corporate social responsibility
csr is fast becoming one of the key benchmarks of 
an organisation’s overall success and reputation in the 
marketplace and our commitment to csr is a reflection of 
its importance to staff customers local communities and the 
environment in which our business operates
community
our goal is to serve as a positive influence on the 
communities in which we operate
during december 2008 888 held its second charity day we 
raised a significant sum which will be donated to global charity 
world for world which focuses on improving the nutrition and 
living standards of some of the world’s poorest communities 
as part of the group’s ongoing community projects our staff 
have been involved in a number of projects throughout the year 
in gibraltar donations were made throughout the year to 
a number of local charities including the research into 
childhood cancer charity and childline gibraltar we 
continue to support st martin’s school through various 
activities including a gardening day in march and the 
donation of a christmas tree
in antigua we organised a poster competition for the adele 
school for special children a day’s event for the whole school 
and we held a christmas lunch for the residents and donated 
muchneeded supplies for craft activities to the national 
vocational and rehabilitation centre for the disabled 
in israel for the second year running 45 employees joined 
the ruach hatova the “good wind” national volunteering 
organisation for a day of goodwill comprising an outing for 
refugees we continue to support the netanyabased non
profit charity “derech ha’etgar” that helps disadvantaged 
teenagers in june we held a day’s cycle outing and in 
december we held a hanukah party for the children and 
donated games prizes and holiday treats we have also 
helped to redecorate the centre
environment
888 has been a constituent member since 2007 of the 
ftse4good index which aims to provide a tool for investors 
to identify and invest in companies that meet globally 
recognised corporate responsibility standards
whilst pure onlinebased businesses have a low impact on 
the environment the group is still committed to taking a 
proactive approach to minimise its environmental footprint in 
2008 we established a global green forum the “bee green 
forum” the forum meets monthly to discuss and implement 
environmental policies and initiatives throughout the group’s 
operational sites 
the first of these initiatives was an awareness campaign 
to encourage employees to think about the impact of their 
actions on the environment and to recycle and save energy 
by switching off machinery and lights when appropriate we 
produced a bee logo to front the campaign with posters and 
signs displaying useful environmental 
information which has proved very 
popular with staff
one of the key operational goals was the 
reduction of our electricity consumption 
a pilot scheme that was introduced in our 
israel office in 2007 was subsequently 
fully implemented and the following steps were taken
l  installation of energy efficient light sources
l  automated control of air conditioning and lighting 
systems with motion sensors in meeting rooms 
l  installation of solar energy device for water heating
l  optimisation system installed to our air conditioning 
saving 15 of energy used
l  antisun stickers installed on windows improving air 
conditioning efficiency
we have through these actions reduced our energy 
consumption by 11 
all our offices recycle as many materials as possible and 
employees are discouraged from using disposable cups 
we use only ecological detergents in our offices and have 
installed a number of water saving devices
in order to minimise the impact of travel on the environment 
we encourage employees to cycle by providing allocated 
parking showers and changing rooms in order to minimise 
international travel 888 has invested in stateoftheart 
teleconferencing facilities which encourages staff to use 
virtual conference meetings instead of travel 
employees
in a fastmoving and competitive industry the management 
communication reward and retention of our employees is 
a key factor in our continued success we strive to be an 
employer of choice where employees have an opportunity to 
be successful and fulfil their potential
we recognise that our employees represent a centre of 
excellence for the online gaming industry and we are keen 
to nurture and maintain that pool of talent we adopt a 
consultative approach with our employees through various 
means including the intranet and employee surveys
in 2008 our focus was on employee engagement levels and 
how to improve employee satisfaction we conducted a 
global employee opinion survey to understand in a formal 
wellstructured measurable and traceable manner our 
employees’ feedback towards different aspects of their daily 
work atmosphere and culture the survey’s findings have 
formed the basis for defining objectives for improvement and 
a number of actions are being taken across the business as 
a direct result this will become an annual event
professional development
beyond financial rewards 888 aims to provide clear 
opportunities for development and progression enabling 
16254888com frontindd   31 16254888com frontindd   31 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 32
16254 08042009 proof 8
corporate social responsibility
continued
employees to improve their skill set and performance we 
have implemented an annual global appraisal system called 
“talking888” using a webbased platform the main target of 
the appraisal  goals process is to conduct an open dialogue 
between employees and their managers while examining 
performance and achievement of goals throughout the past year 
and defining goals for the upcoming year each employee is also 
evaluated on the expression of the values in their everyday work 
we hold an annual business leadership convention to keep senior 
managers informed of strategy and business performance this 
information is then cascaded down to all employees
in 2008 we also sent our key managers from different 
locations and divisions on an executive development 
programme for companies competing in global markets
training
training and development programmes help employees 
develop their skills and experience and to reach their full 
potential benefiting both themselves and the group during 
2008 over 80 of all group employees participated in 
internal andor external training courses including soft skills 
technology and industry led training 
equal opportunity
we believe that inclusion is about ensuring everyone has an 
equal opportunity to access 888 as an employer we value 
everyone’s contribution regardless of their background or 
gender and firmly believe that our diverse workforce helps us 
to meet the needs of our global customers
at the year end the group had 931 employees 2007 805 in 
the following locations gibraltar israel antigua and london
life888 — the 888 creed
entertainment888 — we believe that entertainment is what 
completes our lives after the challenges and routine that occupy 
most of our time everyone is entitled to some fun and excitement
customers888 — we believe that our first responsibility 
is to provide the best experience and worldclass service to 
our customers and business partners at all levels this means 
tailoring the most perfect offering for each customer client and 
partner from the high level of the business down to each and 
every player at all locations at any given time 
888 is proud to both develop and acquire new products to 
maintain its edge we are always mindful of the complex 
regulatory environment that we operate in and the social 
responsibility that comes with our industry 888 understands 
that in order to create value it must protect values — and that 
demands an investment of time and resources in caring for its 
more vulnerable customers
employees888 — we are responsible for our employees 
who work with us worldwide we must provide an enjoyable 
work environment where people are challenged and motivated 
to excel where flair is rewarded compensation is fair and 
the balance between work and family is respected individual 
development is encouraged and advancement is based 
solely on merit we must always invest in developing our 
employees so that they can achieve their personal aspirations 
all employees should expect their managers to be capable 
knowledgeable and motivating we must always treat our 
suppliers and other partners with respect enabling them to 
make a fair profit we will never expose our employees to 
regulatory risk and all employees should be comfortable that 
their actions are just and ethical
responsibility888 — we must use our financial success 
for the greater good we are in a great position to invest 
back in to the charities and organizations that are important 
to our employees and to our customers we must especially 
encourage and support the social responsibility that 
accompanies our work we are committed to provide a 
fair and responsible gaming environment and to guide our 
customers to play responsibly
investors888 — we must strive to operate as efficiently 
as possible achieving profitable excellence always ensuring 
that we treat their capital as if it was our own we must take 
risks that allow stepchanges in performance while always 
calculating the risk and measuring our results retaining 
knowledge and learning from our experiences by doing all of 
the above we will increase shareholder value
our values
excellence we consistently challenge ourselves to reach the 
highest performance level in everything we do
innovation we dare to question our own ‘way of doing 
things’ keeping an open mind experimenting and constantly 
creating new surprising and effective solutions
 
caring we value every employee colleague and customer 
we show it by creating a nurturing environment of respect 
and sensitivity to the needs of others we do not forget our 
commitment to provide a responsible gaming environment to all
customer centricity we keep our customers both internal 
and external at the centre of all decisionmaking processes 
we strive to exceed customer expectations and provide the 
best customer experience
leading we strive to remain one step ahead of the competition 
this means we are constantly on our toes thinking ahead and 
keeping a close eye on industry developments
collaboration we know our success depends on our ability to 
work as a single unit while sharing our knowledge capabilities 
and opinions in an open respectful and trusting environment
these values underpin the group’s strategic goals giving 
all employees a sense of identification and a defined way 
of behaving as well as ensuring alignment between the 
organization’s business objectives and those of individual 
employees these values serve us as our guidelines and we 
strive to obtain a high level of integrity in the way we work 
communicate and act
16254888com frontindd   32 16254888com frontindd   32 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 33
16254 08042009 proof 8
risk report
the group operates in a new and dynamic business 
environment in addition to the daytoday commercial 
risks faced by most enterprises the online gaming industry 
faces particular challenges in respect of regulatory risk 
reputational risk information technology risk and taxation 
risk each of which is detailed below 
regulatory risk
the regulatory framework of online gaming is dynamic and 
complex change in the regulatory regime in a specific 
jurisdiction could have a material adverse effect on business 
volume and financial performance in that jurisdiction a 
detailed regulatory review is set out below
reputational risk 
the group is exposed to the risk of underage and problem 
gamblers accessing its online real money gaming sites the 
group devotes considerable resources to putting in place 
prevention measures coupled with strict internal procedures 
designed to prevent underaged players from accessing 
its real money sites in addition the group promotes a 
safe and responsible gaming environment to its customers 
supplemented by its corporate culture the group has a 
dedicated director of csr  responsible gaming tasked 
with the responsibility of implementing such policies further 
details about the group’s responsible gaming initiatives are 
set out on page 31
information technology risks 
as a leading online business the group’s it systems 
are critical to its operation the group is reliant on the 
performance of these systems 
cuttingedge technologies and procedures are implemented 
throughout the group’s technology operations designed to 
protect its networks from malicious attacks and other such 
risks these measures include traffic filtering antiddos 
distributed denial of service devices antivirus protection 
from leading vendors and other such means physical and 
logical network segmentation is used to isolate and protect 
the group’s networks and restrict malicious activities in order 
to ensure systems are protected properly and effectively 
external security scans and assessments are carried out in a 
timely manner the group has a highend storage solution to 
ensure storage availability and performance all critical data 
is replicated to another storage device for disaster recovery 
purposes and all data is stored offsite on a daily basis
in order to minimise dependencies on telecommunication 
service providers the group invests in network infrastructure 
redundancies whilst regularly reviewing its service providers the 
group has contracted with a second internet service provider in 
gibraltar in order to minimise reliance on one provider
as a part of its monitoring system the group deploys set 
user experience tests which measure performance from 
different locations around the world networkrelated 
performance issues are addressed by rerouting traffic using 
different routes or providers 
888 operate a 24x7 network operations centre noc the 
noc’s role is to conduct real time monitoring of production 
activities using stateoftheart systems these systems are 
designed to identify and provide alerts regarding problems 
related to systems key business indicators and issues 
surrounding customer usability experience 
taxation risk
the group aims to ensure that each legal entity within 
the group is a tax resident of the jurisdiction in which it is 
incorporated and has no taxable presence in any other 
jurisdiction while the group’s customers are located 
worldwide certain jurisdictions may seek to tax such activity 
which could have a material adverse effect on the amount of 
tax payable by the group or on customers’ behaviour 
the group benefits from favourable fiscal arrangements in 
some of the jurisdictions in which it has taxable presence 
without which its results would be adversely affected all 
gaming activities are based in gibraltar where the group 
currently benefits from a tax exempt status a change of 
control or activity of a tax exempt subsidiary would result in 
the loss of its tax status however this is not expected to 
have a material adverse effect on the overall tax rate of the 
group the tax exempt status is due to expire by the end of 
2010 when the government of gibraltar intends to introduce 
a new fiscal regime that complies with eu requirements 
domestic corporate tax in gibraltar is 27 20082009 
gibraltar’s chief minister has announced further reductions 
in anticipation of the introduction of a flat tax rate of 10 
in 2010 a consultation is in place with respect to the new 
tax regime in gibraltar and it is widely anticipated following 
government indications that the new rules will be in place 
by july 2009 but not come into effect until july 2010 with 
gaming companies subject to an effective rate of tax well 
below the new flat tax rate the group is currently required 
to pay a gaming duty currently set at 1 of gaming yield 
with an annual maximum cap of £425000 in aggregate 
in respect of its casino poker bingo and backgammon 
activities and separately at the same rate in respect of the 
group’s new sports offering the applicability of the gaming 
taxes following the implementation of the new tax regime is 
as yet unclear
the group’s subsidiary in israel random logic limited 
and the israeli branch of intersafe global limited have each 
entered into separate transfer pricing agreements on an arm’s 
length basis with the israeli income tax commissioner the 
arrangements for random logic limited are effective until 
2010 while the arrangement for the intersafe global limited 
branch terminated on 31 december 2007 accordingly the 
group has discontinued the use of this branch 
the operation in antigua also benefits from a low tax regime 
further mitigated by the current small scale of the operation
16254888com frontindd   33 16254888com frontindd   33 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 34
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading board of directors
richard kilsby 
nonexecutive chairman
richard kilsby has been chairman since 
march 2006 having previously been deputy 
chairman of the group from august 2005 
he is currently a nonexecutive director of 
collins stewart plc and tullett prebon plc 
since 2001 he has held several board and 
management positions in various private and 
venture capital funded companies in 2004 
he acted as independent monitor for the 
sec and usa department of justice from 
1999 to 2002 he was chief executive of 
tradepoint and subsequently executive vice
chairman of virtx plc from 1995 to 1998 
he was an executive director of the london 
stock exchange prior to which he was a 
managing director for bankers trust from 
1992 to 1995 he was also vicechairman 
of charterhouse bank from 1988 to 1992 
and spent the early part of his career with 
price waterhouse now pwc where he was 
a partner from 1984 to 1988 age 57
gigi levy
chief executive officer
gigi levy has been chief executive officer 
of the group since january 2007 following 
six months as chief operating officer 
prior to his appointment gigi worked for 
amdocs one of the world’s largest software 
providers and systems integrators in the 
telecoms market nyse dox most 
recently as division president managing 
amdocs’ activity in europe except eastern 
europe central and latin america before 
joining amdocs gigi held several interim 
management and consulting roles with 
various companies in israel and the uk gigi 
also headed giltek a telecommunication 
systems integrator and girit 
telecommunications an israeli information 
and communications technology systems 
integrator he holds an mba from the 
kellogg school of management at 
northwestern university age 37 
aviad kobrine
chief financial officer
aviad kobrine has been chief financial 
officer of the group since june 2005 and 
was appointed to the board in august 2005 
from october 2004 he was a consultant to 
888 previously he was a banker with the 
media telecoms investment banking group 
of lehman brothers and prior to that he 
was a senior associate with slaughter and 
may he holds a masters in finance from 
the london business school distinction a 
ba in economics and an llb from tel aviv 
university age 45 
brian mattingley 
deputy chairman and senior independent 
nonexecutive director
brian mattingley has been deputy chairman 
since march 2006 and was appointed 
to the board in august 2005 he was 
previously chief executive of gala regional 
developments limited until 2005 from 
1997 to 2003 he was group finance and 
strategy director of gala group plc prior 
to which he was chief executive of ritz 
bingo limited he has held senior executive 
positions within kingfisher plc and dee 
corporation plc age 57
john anderson
nonexecutive director
john anderson was the chief executive 
officer of the group from september 2000 
to december 2006 he is currently non
executive chairman of burford holdings plc 
and was chief executive officer of burford 
holdings plc from 1996 to 2000 he is 
chairman of the interactive gaming council 
a board member of ecogra and chairman 
of 10 tech holdings limited previously he 
was a board member of ladbrokes plc from 
1990 to 1996 age 60 
shay benyitzhak
nonexecutive director
shay benyitzhak is one of 888’s founders 
was the chief technical officer of the 
group and responsible for research and 
development from the establishment of its 
research and development centre in tel 
aviv until june 2006 previously he was a 
software engineer for tower semiconductor 
limited and cibam technologies limited 
he holds a bsc in computer science 
from technion — the israel institute of 
technology age 40
michael constantine 
independent nonexecutive director
michael constantine was appointed in 
august 2005 from 1996 to 1998 he 
was deputy superintendent of the turks 
and caicos islands financial services 
commission and in 1995 was head of the 
financial supervision unit of the mauritius 
offshore business activities authority  
from 1991 to 1995 he was inspector of 
licensees at the gibraltar financial services 
commission latterly acting commissioner  
he is a chartered accountant and for many 
years a partner in the firm of spain brothers 
 company he served in the royal naval 
reserve reaching the rank of commander  
age 70
amos pickel 
independent nonexecutive director
amos pickel was appointed in march 2006 
formerly the chief executive officer of 
atlas management company limited and 
chief executive officer and member of 
the board of directors of red sea hotels 
ltd previously a nonexecutive director 
of gresham hotel group plc he is a 
solicitor holding a masters in law from new 
york university and a llb from tel aviv 
university age 42
16254888com frontindd   34 16254888com frontindd   34 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 35
16254 08042009 proof 8
corporate governance
888 holdings plc the “company” is listed on the london 
stock exchange but it is not subject to the uk combined 
code on corporate governance issued in june 2006 
the code as it is a gibraltar incorporated company the 
directors support high standards of corporate governance 
and will continue to comply with the code as far as it is 
appropriate for a company incorporated in gibraltar
the board
the directors consider it essential that the company should 
be both led and controlled by an effective board
composition
the board consists of eight directors as follows three 
independent nonexecutive directors two nonindependent 
nonexecutive directors a nonexecutive chairman and 
two executive directors comprising the chief executive 
officer and chief financial officer the biographical details of 
all of the directors are given on page 34
strategic approach
the board focuses upon the group’s longterm objectives 
strategic and policy issues and considers the management 
of key risks facing the group the board is responsible for 
acquisitions and divestments major capital expenditure 
projects and considering group budgets and dividend policy 
the board also determines key appointments the board 
receives regular updates on shareholders’ views 
the board has established a calendar of business this 
provides for the financial calendar strategic planning annual 
budgets and performance selfassessments as well as the 
conduct of standing business the calendar forms the basis 
for effective integration of business activities as between the 
board and its principal committees see pages 36 and 37 
which individually consider their own operating frameworks 
against the board’s business programme
the board has established a formal process for the annual 
evaluation of the performance of the board its committees and 
individual directors the evaluation process covered a range of 
issues such as board processes board rols and responsibilities 
board agendas and committee processes the board and its 
committees were found to be operating effectively
the board plans to meet six times a year during 2008 the 
board met six times
set out below are details of the directors’ attendance record at board and committee meetings in 2008
 total number of meetings held during the year 
 ended december 2008 and the number of 
 meetings attended by each director
  audit  remuneration nominations
 board committee committee committee
total held in year 6 3 5 0
richard kilsby 5 na na —
gigi levy 6 na na na
aviad kobrine 6 na na na
john anderson 5 na na na
shay benyitzhak 5 na na na
michael constantine 6 3 5 —
brian mattingley 6 3 5 —
amos pickel 4 3 4 na
the chairman has responsibility for ensuring that agendas for 
board meetings are set in advance board papers are issued 
to directors sufficiently in advance of meetings to facilitate 
both informed debate and timely decisions 
nonexecutive review and performance appraisal
the chairman holds meetings at least once per year with 
the nonexecutive directors without the executive directors 
being present led by the senior independent director the 
nonexecutive directors meet once per year without the 
chairman present in order to appraise the performance of 
the chairman the directors have wideranging business 
experience and no individual or group of individuals 
dominates the board’s decision making
the board considers that brian mattingley michael 
constantine and amos pickel satisfy the criteria of the code 
to act as independent nonexecutive directors the board 
is satisfied that upon his appointment as chairman richard 
kilsby met the independence criteria of the code the other 
significant commitments of the chairman during 2008 are 
detailed in his biography on page 34 the board considers 
that mr kilsby’s other commitments do not interfere with the 
discharge of his responsibilities to the group and is satisfied 
that he makes sufficient time available to serve the company 
effectively
16254888com frontindd   35 16254888com frontindd   35 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 36
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading corporate governance continued
reserved powers and delegation
a schedule of matters reserved to the board has been 
adopted and its content is reviewed to align it with 
operational needs and the board’s preference to monitor 
and where appropriate approve matters of substance to 
the group as a whole senior executives have given written 
undertakings to ensure compliance within their business 
operations with the board’s formal schedule of matters 
reserved to it for decision or approval 
division of responsibilities
the responsibilities of the chairman are clearly and formally 
defined with the chairman being responsible for the effective 
operation of the board as a whole and supporting key 
external relationships 
other issues
all directors have access to the advice and services of the 
company secretary and the company’s nominated advisers 
who are responsible for ensuring that board procedures 
are followed directors are able to seek independent 
professional advice if required at the company’s expense 
provided that they have first notified their intention to do so 
the appointment or removal of the company secretary is a 
matter for the board as a whole
the board accepts that there should be a formal rigorous 
and transparent procedure for the induction of new directors 
which has been formulated with the guidance of the 
nominations committee
the opportunity to hold office as nonexecutive directors of 
other companies enables directors of 888 to broaden their 
experience and knowledge which will benefit the company 
executive directors may be allowed to accept nonexecutive 
appointments with the board’s prior permission so long 
as these are not likely to lead to any conflict of interest 
executive directors may be required to account for fees 
received from such other companies
the company has arranged insurance cover in respect of 
legal actions against its directors to the extent permitted by 
gibraltar law the company also indemnifies the directors 
neither the insurance nor the indemnity provides cover where 
a director has acted fraudulently or dishonestly
reelection of directors
all directors are subject to reappointment by shareholders 
at the first annual general meeting after their appointment 
and thereafter in accordance with the articles of association 
of the company at intervals of no more than three years 
gigi levy and john anderson were appointed as directors 
mr anderson for an initial period of three years at the 2007 
annual general meeting richard kilsby shay ben itzhak and 
aviad kobrine were appointed for a period of three years 
following their reappointment by the shareholders at the 
2008 annual general meeting 
audit committee
the audit committee comprises three independent non
executive directors brian mattingley chair michael 
constantine and amos pickel the board is satisfied that 
brian mattingley has sufficient recent and relevant financial 
experience to chair the audit committee normally by 
invitation the chairman chief executive officer and chief 
financial officer and where appropriate the internal auditor 
and representatives of the company’s external auditors 
attend the audit committee meetings 
the audit committee’s terms of reference are available on 
request to the company secretary and are included on the 
company’s website www888holdingsplccom
in summary the audit committee assists the board in 
discharging its responsibilities with regard to financial 
reporting external and internal audits and controls including 
reviewing 888’s annual financial statements considering 
the scope of annual audit and the extent of nonaudit work 
undertaken by external auditors approving 888’s internal 
audit programme advising on the appointment of external 
auditors and reviewing the effectiveness of internal control 
systems
nominations committee 
the nominations committee comprises three independent 
nonexecutive directors michael constantine chair 
brian mattingley and amos pickel as well as richard kilsby 
chairman the nominations committee did not meet 
during 2008 
the nominations committee assists the board in discharging 
its responsibilities relating to the composition of the board 
the nominations committee is responsible for reviewing 
from time to time the structure of the board determining 
succession plans for the chairman and chief executive 
officer and identifying and recommending suitable 
candidates for appointment as directors the nominations 
committee’s terms of reference are available on request to 
the company secretary and are included on the company’s 
website www888holdingsplccom
remuneration committee
the company’s remuneration committee comprises three 
independent nonexecutive directors brian mattingley chair 
michael constantine and amos pickel 
the board has overall responsibility for determining the 
framework of executive remuneration and its cost it is 
required to take account of any recommendation made 
by the remuneration committee in determining the 
remuneration benefits and employment packages of the 
executive directors and senior management and the fees of 
the chairman 
16254888com frontindd   36 16254888com frontindd   36 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 37
16254 08042009 proof 8
the remuneration report which outlines the remuneration 
committee’s work and details of directors’ remuneration 
is on pages 38 to 39 the remuneration committee’s 
terms of reference are available on request to the company 
secretary and are included on the company’s website 
www888holdingsplccom
risk management and internal control
the directors acknowledge that they are responsible for the 
company’s system of internal control for setting policy on 
internal control and for reviewing the effectiveness of internal 
control it is management’s role to implement board policies 
on risk and control including reporting the system of 
internal control is designed to manage rather than eliminate 
the risk of failure to achieve business objectives and can only 
provide reasonable and not absolute assurance against 
material misstatement or loss
the board has delegated responsibility to the audit 
committee to review the appropriateness and adequacy 
of systems of internal control on an ongoing basis and to 
make recommendations to the board the company has an 
internal auditor who reports to the audit committee whose 
audit programme for 2008 was reviewed and approved by 
the audit committee early in 2008 
888’s payment risk management team based in gibraltar 
has developed stringent payment risk management and 
fraud control procedures the team makes use of external 
and internal systems to manage the payment risks faced 
by 888’s operational systems detailed procedures exist 
throughout the company’s operations and compliance is 
monitored by operational management and the internal 
auditor
the directors periodically review the effectiveness of the 
group’s systems of internal control the review considers 
individual risk control responsibilities reporting lines and 
qualitative assessments of residual risks 
relations with shareholders and key 
financial audiences
the company maintains an active and regular dialogue 
with principal and institutional shareholders and sellside 
analysts through a planned programme of investor relations 
and financial pr activity the outcome of these meetings 
is reported to the board the programme includes formal 
presentations of full year and interim results quarterly release 
of interim management statements analyst’s conference 
calls and periodic road shows
brian mattingley the senior independent director is available 
to shareholders to address any issues where contact with 
the chairman chief executive officer and chief financial 
officer is inappropriate or where such contact has failed to 
resolve the issue
all shareholders are welcome to attend the 2009 annual 
general meeting and private investors are encouraged to 
take advantage of the opportunity given to ask questions 
the chairmen or nominated members of the audit 
remuneration and nominations committees will attend the 
meeting and be available to answer questions
compliance with the code provisions
as 888 holdings public limited company is registered in 
gibraltar it is subject to compliance with gibraltar statutory 
requirements and is not bound by the uk combined code 
the main legislation relevant to companies in gibraltar is 
the gibraltar companies act which is based on the uk 
companies act 1929 
going concern
after careful review of the group’s budget for 2009 its 
mediumterm plans liquid resources and all relevant matters 
the directors are confident that the company and the group 
have adequate financial resources to continue in operational 
existence for the foreseeable future they have therefore 
continued to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the 
financial statements
corporate and social responsibility 
statement
the group’s chief executive officer is the director 
responsible for monitoring corporate and social responsibility 
within 888 the board receives periodic reports on the 
group’s activities in this area from the chief executive 
officer further details are set out in the corporate social 
responsibility report on page 27
community 
sponsorship
888 is a sizeable employer with a visible presence in gibraltar 
and enjoys a good relationship with the local community 
during 2008 the group continued its policy of reinforcing 
this relationship by making contributions to a number of local 
causes primarily educational 
charities
in 2008 the group made donations totalling us107821 
2007 us232000 to organizations promoting various 
social causes in gibraltar and israel  
16254888com frontindd   37 16254888com frontindd   37 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 38
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading remuneration report
in accordance with the listing rules the company presents 
its report on the remuneration of its directors for the year 
ended 31 december 2008 the company is incorporated in 
gibraltar and therefore is not required to comply with the 
directors’ remuneration report requirements in schedule 
7a to the uk companies act 1985 but has chosen to 
prepare this remuneration report on the basis of those 
requirements as appropriate
the report sets out the structure and details of the 
remuneration of the directors for the year ended 31 december 
2008 it also describes the board’s policy and approach to 
the principles of good governance relating to directors’ 
remuneration
a resolution to approve the remuneration report is 
proposed annually to shareholders for approval this 
remuneration report will be put to shareholder vote at the 
2009 annual general meeting
remuneration committee
the remuneration committee consists solely of independent 
nonexecutive directors currently brian mattingley chair 
michael constantine and amos pickel details of attendances 
at committee meetings are contained in the statement on 
corporate governance on page 35 the remuneration 
committee has formal terms of reference which are available 
on request in writing to the company secretary and on the 
company’s website www888holdingsplccom
independent advice
the board intends that executive remuneration policies be 
both formal and transparent it further acknowledges the 
importance of taking into consideration independent advice 
in setting remuneration policies and benefit levels the 
remuneration committee has taken advice from new bridge 
street consultants as independent advisors with respect to 
executive directors’ remuneration towards the end of 2006 
and therefore further advice was not required during 2008 the 
policies applied in 2008 remain consistent with that advice
remuneration policy
executive directors
remuneration packages must be sufficient to attract 
retain and motivate directors of the calibre appropriate 
to a global business in a competitive environment the 
remuneration committee is mindful that most of the group’s 
competitors are not uk listed companies and takes into 
account in determining appropriate remuneration levelsthe 
components of the remuneration structure are set out below
at least half of the total potential remuneration of the 
chief executive officer and the chief financial officer 
are represented by a variable element dependent on the 
performance of the company the remuneration committee 
considers that these represent achievable and motivational 
levels of personal rewards commensurate with stipulated 
levels of corporate performance 
the remuneration committee is mandated by the board 
to satisfy itself that the level of the directors’ and senior 
management’s remuneration is appropriate having regard 
to pay and conditions throughout the rest of the sectors in 
which the group operates it will further satisfy itself that 
such remuneration aligns with the risks and rewards to 
shareholders in this context the remuneration committee 
will regularly review individual and corporate performance 
targets in the current volatile economic climate executive 
leadership is more important than ever the remuneration 
committee will continue to use careful and rigorous 
judgement to match remuneration to achievements 
the remuneration committee has taken account of the 
volatile economic climate in considering the application of 
performance conditions which were set in previous years 
and has exercised its discretion to waive and amend such 
conditions as it has deemed appropriate and as further 
explained below
nonexecutive directors
the chairman and the nonexecutive directors receive fees 
only and are not eligible to participate in any bonus plan 
pension plan share plan or longterm incentive plan of 
the company the chairman and the executive directors 
determine the fees paid to the nonexecutive directors 
the chairman’s fees are determined by the remuneration 
committee
fees paid to the nonexecutive directors are set by reference 
to an assessment of the time commitment and responsibility 
associated with each role levels take account of additional 
demands placed upon individual nonexecutive directors by 
virtue of their holding particular offices such as committee 
chairman andor deputy chairman and travel time to board 
meetings and the group’s headquarters in gibraltar the 
fees paid to each nonexecutive director during 2008 are 
disclosed in the directors’ remuneration summary on 
pages 41 and 42
remuneration structure
base salary and benefits
base salaries are subject to annual review gigi levy’s last 
review took place in april 2008 and his salary for 2008 
remained gbp420000 aviad kobrine’s last review took 
place in january 2008 and his aggregate salary for 2008 
which is paid by his employers the company and cassava 
enterprises gibraltar limited was raised in line with inflation 
to gbp285000 benefits provided to executive directors 
include a car in the case of gigi levy and a car allowance 
in the case of aviad kobrine and health disability and life 
insurance 
annual cash bonus
gigi levy and aviad kobrine are entitled to an annual cash 
bonus of up to 120 of annualised salary subject to the 
achievement of predetermined targets the remuneration 
committee sets bonus targets and levels of eligibility each 
16254888com frontindd   38 16254888com frontindd   38 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 39
16254 08042009 proof 8
year for the 2008 financial year the performance target 
was 20 growth in revenue compared to 2007 for nonus 
business and provided that the ebitda margin for 2007 
was maintained the pay out levels were set at 50 of base 
salary for 80 performance increasing on a linear basis 
up to 100 where targets were fully satisfied in the event 
that revenue growth exceeded 20 the percentage bonus 
entitlement increased by 4 for every 1 additional revenue 
growth up to a maximum bonus entitlement of 120
these targets were met during 2008 and both gigi levy and 
aviad kobrine are entitled to receive an annual cash bonus 
of 100 of their annualised 2008 salary the bonuses are 
payable by their respective employers the remuneration 
committee has rigorously reviewed the results achieved 
against the performance targets set for the 2008 financial 
year and is satisfied that the targets it set were challenging 
and the bonuses awarded were earned by outstanding 
performance notwithstanding their contractual entitlement 
to receive 100 of their annual cash bonus in light of the 
current economic environment the executive directorrs 
waived 25 of their contractual entitlement to cash bonuses  
in addition the executive directorrs in order to further reflect 
their longterm commitment to the group’s future elected to 
receive 20 of their maximum potential annual cash bonus 
entitlement after the waiver of 25 in the form of a grant by 
the remuneration committee of a share award pursuant to 
the terms of the all employee plan which will vest over three 
years accordingly the actual cash bonus received by the 
executive directorrs was only 55 of the total annual cash 
bonus entitlement
additionally the performance conditions attaching to the 
share award granted to gigi levy in 2006 vesting of which 
was subject to the same conditions as for his annual cash 
bonus were met in full for the financial year 2008 
pensions
gigi levy and aviad kobrine are each entitled to a cash 
payment in lieu of an annual contribution to their personal 
pension schemes of 15 of their respective base salaries 
in the case of aviad kobrine 15 of his basic salary under 
both service agreements 
long term incentives 
the company has two employee share incentive plans i 
the 888 allemployee share plan and ii the 888 long term 
incentive plan 
the company currently grants awards only under the 888 
allemployee plan 
performancedependent options and awards were granted 
under the 888 allemployee plan to the executive directors 
on 14 september 2006 30 april 2007 and 8 april 2008 
details of these awards and options are set out on page 43
in 2008 the remuneration committee made additional share 
awards to the executive directorrs in recognition of their 
excellent performance during 2007 gigi levy’s award vests 
in equal portions over 4 years with annual vesting subject to 
the same performance conditions as his annual cash bonus 
in each of those years such conditions were met in full for 
the financial year 2008 aviad kobrine’s award vests over 4 
years and the remuneration committee did not impose any 
performance conditions on that award
888 allemployee share plan
all employees exclusive consultants and executive directors 
of the group who are not within six months of their normal 
retirement age are eligible to participate in the 888 allemployee 
share plan at the discretion of the remuneration committee 
awards under the 888 allemployee share plan can either 
be granted for no consideration or with a nil exercise price 
for options or at an exercise price that will normally be no 
less than the market value of an ordinary share at the time of 
grant or average share price during a period as determined 
by the remuneration committee at time of grant in countries 
where an award or option involving real shares is not 
appropriate or feasible for legal regulatory or tax reasons a 
phantom award may be used
the maximum number of ordinary shares that an eligible 
employee may acquire pursuant to share awards or options 
granted to him in any calendar year under the 888 all
employee share plan and the 888 long term incentive plan 
may not have an aggregate market value as measured at 
the date of grant exceeding 200 of his annual base salary 
or such higher limit as the remuneration committee may 
determine is appropriate in any individual case awards vest 
over a fixed period of up to four years the remuneration 
committee may determine that the vesting and release or 
exercise of share awards and options under the 888 all
employee share plan are subject to performance conditions 
imposed at the time of grant 
  subject to certain adjustments as determined by the 
remuneration committee
16254888com frontindd   39 16254888com frontindd   39 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 40
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading remuneration report continued
the performance conditions which determine the vesting of 
the options and awards granted on 14 september 2006 
30 april 2007 and 8 april 2008 to executive directors are 
driven solely by financial performance not by comparison 
to an external peer group vesting occurs over a period 
of four consecutive years starting in april 2007 and is 
subject to target growth as determined by the 
remuneration committee 
for the vesting of awards in the financial years 2006 
2007 and 2008 the performance conditions set by the 
remuneration committee were a target growth in the 
company’s annual eps excluding share benefit charges 
in each year eps must grow by a target of at least 20 in 
order for 100 of the award for that year to vest
fifty per cent of the award vests upon achievement of 80 
of the target eps growth rate and increases on a linear basis 
up to 100 upon achievement of 100 of the target eps 
growth if the threshold of 80 of target eps growth rate 
is not met in any one year the portion of the award due to 
vest in that year lapses performance conditions may be 
amended by the remuneration committee if circumstances 
which prevailed at the date of grant have subsequently 
changed provided that the amended performance conditions 
would be a fairer measure of performance 
eps was taken as the parameter for these performance 
conditions as the remuneration committee is of the view 
that given the nature of the industry in which the company 
operates where its share price performance is heavily 
influenced by external factors outside its control that eps is 
a better measure of the company’s own performance the 
remuneration committee was of the view that historically 
these performance conditions provide a focus on delivering 
absolute financial returns
in considering performance for the financial year 2008 the 
remuneration committee was of the view that economic 
circumstances had changed as a result of factors outside 
the control of management  volatile currency fluctuations 
and significantly reduced interest rates meant that eps was 
not an appropriate parameter for measuring performance 
for that year in light of the strong ebitda performance of 
the group in 2008 the remuneration committee waived 
the performance conditions and exercised its discretion and 
decided to allow vesting of 60 of the award capable of 
vesting in 2009 to aviad kobrine and eligible members of 
senior management at his suggestion the remuneration 
committee did not waive the performance conditions in 
relation to gigi levy and accordingly his award capable of 
vesting in 2009 lapsed 
the remuneration committee has decided to amend 
the performance condition related to the portion of all 
awards capable of vesting in 2010 in order to take account 
of the changed economic circumstances toi in 2009 
must grow by 5 over financial year 2008 in order for 
100 of the portion of the awards due to vest in respect 
of 2009 subject to maintaining adjusted eps excluding 
share benefit charges interest receivable and foreign 
currency impact at the same level as 2008 50 of the 
portion vests upon achievement of fifty per cent of the 
target toi growth rate and increases on a linear basis up 
to 100 upon achievement of 100 of the target toi 
growth if the threshold of 50 of target toi growth rate 
is not met the portion of the award due to vest in 2010 
lapses performance conditions may be amended by the 
remuneration committee if circumstances which prevailed 
at the date of grant have subsequently changed provided 
that the amended performance conditions would be a fairer 
measure of performance
888 long term incentive plan
all employees and executive directors of the group who 
are not within six months of their normal retirement age are 
eligible to participate in the 888 long term incentive plan 
at the discretion of the remuneration committee as at the 
date of this report no awards have been granted pursuant to 
the 888 long term incentive plan 888 has given longterm 
incentive awards to executive directors under the 888 all 
employee plan 
scheme limits 
awards and options granted under the 888 allemployee 
share plan and the 888 long term incentive plan may be 
satisfied through the issue of new shares it is intended that 
grants of options and awards are to be planned so as not to 
exceed 5 of the issued ordinary share capital in any rolling 
ten year period for the 888 long term incentive plan and 
10 of the issued ordinary share capital in any rolling ten 
year period for the 888 allemployee share plan and the 888 
long term incentive plan in the aggregate the committee 
intends to have regard to appropriate annual flowrates so as 
to ensure that these limits are not breached
employee trusts
the company has established two trusts to further the 
interests of the company its subsidiaries and shareholders 
by providing share incentives to employees including 
executive directors of any group company to enable the 
group to attract retain and motivate employees
the 888 ipo share award trust and the 888 holdings plc 
share plan trust were created pursuant to trust deeds dated 
14 september 2005 the 888 ipo share award trust is 
operated in connection with the grant of share awards and 
nil cost options to employees of the group at the time of the 
ipo these trusts currently hold 162361 ordinary shares in 
the company
director appointments — service 
contracts and directors’ fees
executive directors
it is the company’s policy that each executive director’s 
service agreement is terminable on no more than 12 months’ 
written notice by either party each executive director’s 
16254888com frontindd   40 16254888com frontindd   40 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 41
16254 08042009 proof 8
employment can be terminated by making a payment equal 
to the salary and pension contributions and the value of 
other contractual benefits due to the executive director in 
lieu of any unexpired notice period the executive directors 
continue to be entitled to be paid a bonus during any 
unexpired part of the notice period even if the employment 
is terminated by making payment in lieu of notice share 
awards granted under the 888 allemployee share plan 
to gigi levy and aviad kobrine pursuant to their service 
agreements on 14 september 2006 and 29 september 
and 4 october 2005 respectively continue to vest during 
any unexpired part of the notice period and they shall be 
treated as a “good leaver” under the terms of the 888 all
employee share plan where their employment has been 
terminated by making a payment in lieu of notice no other 
benefits upon termination of employment are payable an 
executive director’s entitlement to share awards and share 
options under the 888 allemployee plan on termination 
of employment will be governed by the terms of that plan 
and in the case of the initial awards made to gigi levy and 
aviad kobrine by the relevant provisions of their service 
agreements
  employer
  contracting  document
name position party date 
gigi levy chief executive officer the company 18062006
aviad kobrine chief financial officer the company 14092005 
aviad kobrine chief financial officer cassava enterprises  14092005
  gibraltar limited
1
1
 wholly owned subsidiary of the company
chairman and nonexecutive directors
the chairman and the nonexecutive directors do not have service contracts but have signed letters of appointment
nonexecutive directors’ appointments which are for a fixed term of three years may be terminated by the company without notice in 
accordance with the company’s articles of association and the gibraltar companies act except for the chairman who is required to 
be given six months’ prior written notice of termination no compensation is payable on the termination of the appointment 
  employer
  contracting  document
name position party date 
richard kilsby chairman the company 14032009
brian mattingley deputy chairman the company 14032009
john anderson nonexecutive director the company 13092006
michael constantine nonexecutive director the company 14032009
amos pickel nonexecutive director the company 14032009
shay benyitzhak nonexecutive director the company 18062006
16254888com frontindd   41 16254888com frontindd   41 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 42
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading remuneration report continued
directors’ remuneration summary 
the cash emoluments or fees received by the directors for 2008 are shown below
 base salary   pensions total total
 fees bonus benefits allowance 2008 2007
 us’000
1
 us’000  us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
executive
gigi levy 778 334 28 117 1257 2010
aviad kobrine
2
 528 193 41 79 841 1250
nonexecutive
richard kilsby 409  20  429 424
brian mattingley 163    163 161
michael constantine 123    123 121
john anderson 143    143 141
shay benyitzhak  0    0 0
amos pickel 123    123 121
total 2267 527 89 196 3079 4328
1
  where directors’ remuneration is denominated in sterling amounts have been converted into us at the average rate of 
exchange for the relevant month
2
  part of mr kobrine’s remuneration is paid by one of his employers cassava enterprises gibraltar limited a whollyowned 
subsidiary of the company
3
 mr levy and mr kobrine elected to receive 20 of their annual cash bonus entitlement in the form of a share award granted 
by the remuneration committee vesting over 3 years additionally in light of the current economic environment mr levy and 
mr kobrine waived 25 of their contractual entitlement to cash bonuses
directors’ interests in ordinary shares
the notified interests of executive and nonexecutive directors in the issued share capital of the company are
 ordinary shares
 31 december 31 december
 2008  2007
executive
gigi levy 1243457 534256
aviad kobrine  435683 296061
nonexecutive
richard kilsby 114285 114285
brian mattingley 142857 142857
michael constantine 22857 22857
john anderson  588869 1988869
shay benyitzhak
1
 37122358 37122358
amos pickel — —
1
 these shares are held on trust and are subject to a relationship agreement dated 14 september 2005 between among 
others the company and the principal shareholder trusts further details can be found on page 45 
except where stated all interests were held beneficially
16254888com frontindd   42 16254888com frontindd   42 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 43
16254 08042009 proof 8
directors’ interests in share awards  share options 
the number of shares subject to share awards or share options granted to the executive directors and outstanding as at 
31 december 2008 is set out below 
   earliest exercise     market
  exercise period  awards at   price exercised
 date of vesting  end exercise 31 dec awarded vested in at vesting transferred
 award date date price 2007 2008 2008 date 2008 total
gigi levy
1
888 allemployee 140906 180608 na £nil 337096  337096 13775p  337096
share plan
24
 140906 180609 na £nil 337096     337096
 140906 180610 na £nil 337097     337097
888 allemployee 140906 140408 na £nil 233260  233260 14700p  233260
share plan
26
 140906 140409 na £nil 145787     145787
 140906 140410 na £nil 145787     145787
888 allemployee 140906 180608 na £nil 138845  138845 13775p  138845
share plan
25
 140906 180609 na £nil 138845     138845
 140906 180610 na £nil 138845     138845
888 allemployee 080408 080409 na £nil  167351    167351
share plan
26
 080408 080410 na £nil  167351    167351
 080408 080411 na £nil  167351    167351
 080408 080412 na £nil  167352    167352
aviad kobrine 
888 allemployee 290905 041008 na £nil 55621  55621 13275  55621
share plan
2
 290905 041009 na £nil 55621     55621
888 allemployee 041005 041008 041015 £nil 45508  45508 13275  45508
share plan
3
 041005 041009 041015 £nil 45508     45508
888 allemployee 140906 140408 140916 £nil 62480  62480 14700p  62480
share plan
36
 140906 140409 140916 £nil 39050     39050
 140906 140410 140916 £nil 39050     39050
888 allemployee 140906 140408 na £nil 76365  76365 14700p  76365
share plan
26
 140906 140409 na £nil 47728     47728
 140906 140410 na £nil 47728     47728
888 allemployee 300407 140408  £nil 7636  7636 14700p  7636
share plan
26
 300407 140409  £nil 4773     4773
 300407 140410  £nil 4772     4772
888 allemployee 300407 140408 300417 £nil 6248  6248 14700p  6248
share plan
36
 300407 140409 300417 £nil 3905     3905
 300407 140410 300417 £nil 3905     3905
888 allemployee 150108 150109 na £nil  7500    7500
share plan
2
 150108 150110 na £nil  7500    7500
 150108 150111 na £nil  7500    7500
 150108 150112 na £nil  7500    7500
888 allemployee 150108 150109 150118 £nil  42500    42500
share plan
3
 150108 150110 150118 £nil  42500    42500
 150108 150111 150118 £nil  42500    42500
 150108 150112 150118 £nil  42500    42500
all awards were made through the 888 allemployee share plan during the year 
16254888com frontindd   43 16254888com frontindd   43 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 44
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading remuneration report continued
1
 date of appointment being 18 june 2006 for gigi levy
2
 awarded as a share award
3
 awarded as a nil cost option
4
 this award was granted pursuant to gigi levy’s service agreement this award was granted to gigi levy upon his recruitment 
as a oneoff award to secure his appointment
5
 this award was made in addition to the annual cash bonus noted on pages 39 and 40 subject to the annual cash bonus 
criteria being met
6
 vesting subject to performance conditions as described on pages 39 and 40
the closing price of one ordinary share was 9925p at 31 december 2008 the highest closing price during 2008 was 163p 
and the lowest was 64p
no director was materially interested during the year in any contract which was significant in relation to the business of the 
company otherwise than as disclosed in the prospectus or these report and accounts
the parts of the remuneration report from directors’ remuneration summary to this point have been audited in accordance with 
schedule 7a of the companies act 1985
total shareholder return
the chart below shows the value of an investment of £100 sterling in the company’s shares and in the ftse 250 index from 
admission to 31 december 2008 the directors have chosen the ftse 250 index as the most appropriate comparator index as 
the company was a constituent member until october 2006 and was reincluded in that index from february 2008 
value of £100 sterling in 888 since ipo v ftse 250
approval
this report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
brian mattingley
chairman of the remuneration committee
30 march 2009
29905
291005
291105
291205
29106
1306
1406
1506
1606
1706
1806
1906
11006
11106
11206
1107
1207
1307
1407
1507
1607
1707
1807
1907
11007
11107
11207
1108
1208
1308
1408
1508
1608
1708
1808
1908
11008
11108
11208
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
ftse 250  888
16254888com frontindd   44 16254888com frontindd   44 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 45
16254 08042009 proof 8
directors’ report
the directors submit to the members their annual report 
and accounts of the group for the year ended 31 december 
2008 the report on corporate governance and the 
remuneration report on pages 38 and 44 respectively form 
part of this directors’ report
principal activities
during 2008 the group’s principal activities were the 
provision of online gaming entertainment to end customers 
as well as business partners a review of the business is 
given in the chairman’s statement on pages 6 to 7 the chief 
executive’s review on pages 8 to 11 and the enhanced 
business review on pages 12 to 30
the principal subsidiary undertakings are listed on page 70
results
the group’s profit before tax for the financial year excluding 
share benefit charges of us84 million of us49 million is 
reported in the consolidated income statement on page 50 
it is the intention of the directorrs to declare a final dividend in 
respect of the financial year in an amount of 25 cents per share 
directors and their interests 
biographical details of the current board of directors are 
shown on page 34 the directors who served during the 
year are shown below
richard kilsby appointed 30 august 2005 and 
 reappointed 21 may 2008
gigi levy appointed 18 june 2006 and 
 reappointed 30 may 2007
aviad kobrine appointed 30 august 2005 and 
 reappointed 21 may 2008
john anderson appointed 30 august 2005 and 
 reappointed 30 may 2007
shay benyitzhak appointed 30 august 2005 and 
 reappointed 21 may 2008
michael constantine appointed 30 august 2005 and 
 reappointed 30 may 2007
brian mattingley appointed 30 august 2005 and 
 reappointed 30 may 2007
amos pickel appointed 14 march 2006 and 
 reappointed 30 may 2007
the beneficial and nonbeneficial interests of the directors 
in shares of the company are set out in the remuneration 
report on pages 38 to 44
except as noted above none of the directors had any 
interests in the shares of the company or in any material 
contract or arrangement with the company or any of its 
subsidiaries
brian mattingley michael constantine and amos pickel will 
retire by rotation at the annual general meeting and being 
eligible will offer themselves for reelection
share capital
changes in the company’s share capital during the financial 
year are given in note 18 to the consolidated financial 
statements on page 69 as at 31 december 2008 the 
company’s issued share capital comprised 342848261 
ordinary shares of 0005p each
rights attaching to ordinary shares
the rights and obligations attaching to ordinary shares are 
set out in the company’s articles of association holders of 
ordinary shares are entitled to attend and speak at general 
meetings of the company to appoint one or more proxies 
and to exercise voting rights holders of ordinary shares may 
receive a dividend and on liquidation may share in the assets 
of the company holders of ordinary shares are entitled to 
receive the company’s annual report subject to meeting 
certain thresholds holders of ordinary shares may requisition 
a general meeting of the company or the proposal of 
resolutions at general meetings
deadlines for exercising voting rights
electronic and paper proxy appointment and voting 
instructions must be received by the company’s registrars 
not later than 48 hours before a general meeting
restrictions on transfer of shares and limitations on 
holdings
there are no restrictions on transfer or limitations on the 
holding of ordinary shares other than under restrictions 
imposed by law or regulation for example insider trading 
laws or pursuant to the company’s share dealing code
substantial shareholdings 
as at 31 december 2008 the company had been notified of 
the following interests in 3 or more of its share capital
 
 number of  issued
principal shareholder trust shares share capital
e shaked shares trust 86283534 252
o shaked shares trust 86283534 252
benyitzhak family shares trust 37122358 108
16254888com frontindd   45 16254888com frontindd   45 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 46
16254 08042009 proof 8
heading directors’ report continued
shareholder agreements and consent 
requirements
there are no known arrangements under which financial rights 
are held by a person other than the holder of the shares
a relationship agreement governing the relationship 
between the above principal shareholder trusts and 
the company was entered into in connection with the 
company’s flotation the relationship agreement provides 
that all transactions between the group and the principal 
shareholder trusts will be on a normal business basis that 
the group will be allowed to carry on business independently 
of them and that the principal shareholder trusts will not 
cause the group to contravene the combined code unless 
required by law or as contemplated in the relationship 
agreement it further provides that each of the principal 
shareholder trusts will not solicit group employees without 
consent that only independent directors can vote on 
proposals to amend the relationship agreement that the 
principal shareholder trusts will consult the group prior 
to disposing of a significant number of shares in order to 
maintain an orderly market and shall not disclose confidential 
information unless required to do so or having first received 
the company’s consent the relationship agreement also 
includes restrictions on the principal shareholder trusts 
power to appoint directors and includes obligations on the 
trusts to ensure that the majority of the board excluding the 
chairman is independent the principal shareholder trusts 
can nominate a nonexecutive director for appointment to 
the board and the directors will refer the appointment of the 
nominated person to the remuneration committee in the 
event that this right is exercised and it results in fewer than 
half the board excluding the chairman of the board being 
independent directors such appointment shall only become 
effective upon the appointment to the board of an additional 
independent director such restrictions and obligations apply 
whilst the e shaked shares trust and o shaked shares 
trust collectively or the benyitzhak family shares trust 
individually hold not less than 75
change of control
other than the group’s gaming licences where change of 
control is subject to prior consent there are no contracts to 
which the group is a party which would allow the counterparty 
to terminate or alter those contractual arrangements in the 
event of a change of control of the group
charitable contributions
contributions for charitable purposes were made during the 
year amounting to us107821 2007 232000
directors’ responsibility statement
the directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting 
records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any 
time the financial position of the company for safeguarding 
the assets for taking reasonable steps for the prevention 
and detection of fraud and other irregularities and for the 
preparation of a directors’ report which complies with the 
gibraltar companies accounts act 1999 the gibraltar 
companies consolidated accounts act 1999 and the 
gibraltar companies act
financial statements are published on the group’s website 
in accordance with legislation in the uk governing the 
preparation and dissemination of financial statements 
which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions the 
maintenance and integrity of the group’s website is the 
responsibility of the directors the directors’ responsibility 
also extends to the ongoing integrity of the financial 
statements contained therein
the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report 
and the financial statements the directors are required to 
prepare financial statements for the group in accordance 
with international financial reporting standards ifrss and 
have also chosen to prepare financial statements for the 
company in accordance with ifrss
16254888com frontindd   46 16254888com frontindd   46 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 annual report  accounts 2008 47
16254 08042009 proof 8
group and parent company financial 
statements
company law requires the directors to prepare such financial 
statements in accordance with the gibraltar companies 
accounts act 1999 the gibraltar companies consolidated 
accounts act 1999 and the gibraltar companies act
international accounting standard 1 requires that financial 
statements present fairly for each financial year the group and 
company’s financial position financial performance and cash 
flows this requires the faithful representation of the effects of 
transactions other events and conditions in accordance with the 
definitions and recognition criteria for assets liabilities income 
and expenses set out in the international accounting standards 
board’s “framework for the preparation and presentation 
of financial statements” in virtually all circumstances a fair 
presentation will be achieved by compliance with all applicable 
ifrss a fair presentation also requires the directors to
l consistently select and apply appropriate accounting 
policies
l present information including accounting policies in a 
manner that provides relevant reliable comparable and 
understandable information and
l provide additional disclosures when compliance with 
the specific requirements in ifrss is insufficient to 
enable members to understand the impact of particular 
transactions other events and conditions on the entity’s 
financial position and financial performance
we confirm to the best of our knowledge
a the financial statements prepared in accordance with 
international financial reporting standards 
 as adopted by the eu give a true and fair view of the 
assets liabilities financial position and profit or loss of the 
group and the undertakings included in the consolidation 
taken as a whole and
b the ‘enhanced business review’ includes a fair review of 
the development and performance of the business and 
the position of the group and the undertakings included 
in the consolidation taken as a whole together with a 
description of the principal risks and uncertainties that 
they face 
auditors
a resolution for the reappointment of bdo stoy hayward 
llp and bdo orion limited as auditors of the company will 
be proposed at the 2009 annual general meeting
during the year ended 31 december 2008 bdo stoy 
hayward llp were appointed auditors for the purposes of 
the company preparing financial statements as required 
pursuant to the listing rules of the uk listing authority bdo 
orion limited have been appointed to act as auditors for the 
purposes of issuing an audit report pursuant to section 10 of 
the gibraltar companies accounts act 1999 to be filed with 
the gibraltar companies registry
on behalf of the board 
gigi levy
chief executive ofﬁ cer
30 march 2009
16254888com frontindd   47 16254888com frontindd   47 08042009   1747 08042009   1747 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 48
16254 842009 proof 7
independent auditors’ report to the shareholders 
of 888 holdings public limited company
we have audited the group and the company financial statements the “financial statements” of 888 holdings public limited
company for the year ended 31 december 2008 which comprise the group income statement the group and company 
balance sheets the group and company cash flow statements the group and company statement of recognised income 
and expenses and the related notes 1 to 26 to the group financial statements and notes 1 to 12 to the company financial 
statements these financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out therein we have also audited 
the parts of the remuneration report described as having been audited
respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
the directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law 
and international financial reporting standards “ifrss” as adopted by the european union are set out in the statement of 
directors’ responsibilities 888 holdings public limited company has complied with the requirements of rules 986 and 988 of 
the listing rules in preparing its annual report and has also complied with schedule 7a of the uk companies act 1985 as if it 
was incorporated in the uk
our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and 
international standards on auditing uk and ireland 
we report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and whether the financial statements
have been properly prepared in accordance with the gibraltar companies accounts act 1999 gibraltar companies consolidated
accounts act 1999 and the gibraltar companies act and the part of the remuneration report described as having been audited
has been properly prepared in accordance with schedule 7a of the uk companies act 1985 we also report to you if in our
opinion the directors’ report is not consistent with the financial statements if the company has not kept proper accounting
records if we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit or if information specified by the listing
rules and gibraltar legislation is not disclosed
we review whether the corporate governance statement reflects the group’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 2006
frc combined code specified for our review by the listing rules of the financial services authority and we report if it does 
not we are not required to consider whether the board’s statements on internal control cover all risks and controls or form an
opinion on the effectiveness of the group’s corporate governance procedures or its risk and control procedures
we read other information contained in the annual report and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial
statements the other information comprises only the directors’ report chairman’s statement chief executive’s review
enhanced business review risk report corporate social responsibility report corporate governance statement and the 
unaudited part of the remuneration report we consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent 
misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements our responsibilities do not extend to any other 
information
our report has been prepared pursuant to the terms of our engagement letter and for no other purpose no person is entitled 
to rely on this report unless such a person is a person entitled to rely upon this report by virtue of the terms of our engagement 
letter or has been expressly authorised to do so by our prior written consent save as above we do not accept responsibility for 
this report to any other person or for any other purpose and we hereby expressly disclaim any and all such liability
basis of audit opinion
we conducted our audit in accordance with international standards on auditing uk and ireland issued by the auditing
practices board an audit includes examination on a test basis of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the 
financial statements and the part of the remuneration report described as having been audited it also includes an assessment 
of the significant estimates and judgements made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements and of whether 
the accounting policies are appropriate to the group’s and company’s circumstances consistently applied and adequately 
disclosed
we planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in
order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements and the parts of the
remuneration report described as having been audited are free from material misstatement whether caused by fraud or other 
irregularity or error in forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the
financial statements and the part of the remuneration report to be audited
16254888com backindd   48 16254888com backindd   48 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 49
16254 842009 proof 7
opinion
in our opinion
l the group financial statements give a true and fair view in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the european union of the
state of the group’s and the company’s affairs as at 31 december 2008 and of the group’s profit for the year then ended 
and
l the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the gibraltar companies accounts act 1999
gibraltar companies consolidated accounts act 1999 and the gibraltar companies act and
l the part of the remuneration report described as having been audited has been properly prepared in accordance with
schedule 7a of the uk companies act 1985 and
l the information provided in the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements and
l we have nothing to report to you in respect of our responsibility set out above in relation to the company keeping proper
accounting records the auditors receiving information and explanations for our audit and disclosures regarding directors’ 
remuneration and other transactions
emphasis of matter — regulatory issues
in forming our opinion which is not qualified we have considered the adequacy of and draw attention to the disclosures made in
note 26 to the financial statements concerning the residual risk of an adverse impact arising from the group having had customers in
the us prior to the enactment of the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act
note 26 includes a statement that the board has not been able to identify reliably at this stage what if any liability may arise and 
accordingly no provision has been made
bdo stoy hayward llp bdo orion limited
chartered accountants registered auditors
55 baker street montagu pavilion
london  8–10 queensway
w1u 7eu gibraltar
uk
30 march 2009
16254888com backindd   49 16254888com backindd   49 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 50
16254 842009 proof 7
group income statement
for the year ended 31 december 2008
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
note us’000 us’000
total revenue 2 256862 213383
other operating income 2 5692 3563
total operating income 262554 216946
operating expenses  84637 64864
research and development expenses  27379 23496
selling and marketing expenses  80155 70897
administrative expenses 4 33069 24660
operating profit before share benefit charges  45705 40829
share benefit charges  8391 7800
operating profit  5 37314 33029
finance income  2928 4957
profit before tax before share benefit charges 48633 45786
share benefit charges 21 8391 7800
profit before tax 40242 37986
taxation 7 3057 3199
profit from continuing operations 37185 34787
loss from discontinued operations 25 – 552
profit after tax for the year attributable to equity holders of parent 37185 34235
 year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
earnings per share note 2008 2007
continuing operations 8
basic  109¢ 103¢
diluted  107¢ 101¢
discontinued operations  25d
basic  – 02¢
diluted  – 02¢
total
basic  109¢ 101¢
diluted 107¢ 99¢
group statement of recognised income and expenses 
for the year ended 31 december 2008
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
note us’000 us’000
actuarial movements on severance pay liability 6 949 –
net expense recognised directly in equity  949 –
net profit for the year  37185 34235
total recognised income and expense for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent 36236 34235
the notes on pages 54 to 78 form part of these financial statements
16254888com backindd   50 16254888com backindd   50 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 51
16254 842009 proof 7
group balance sheet
at 31 december 2008
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
note us’000 us’000
assets
noncurrent assets
intangible assets 11 44812 40656
property plant and equipment 12 19740 16496
financial assets 13 223 654
deferred taxes  14 606 537
65381 58343
current assets
cash and cash equivalents 15 98444 104308
trade and other receivables 16 18673 19530
117117 123838
total assets 182498 182181
equity and liabilities
equity attributable to equity holders of the parent 
share capital  17 18 3115 3097
share premium 18 65 –
availableforsale reserve 18 536 105
retained earnings  18 108716 89735
total equity attributable to equity holders of the parent 111360 92727
liabilities
current liabilities
trade and other payables 19 37854 63040
liabilities to customers  33284 26414
total liabilities 71138 89454
total equity and liabilities 182498 182181
the financial statements on pages 50 to 78 were approved and authorised for issue by the board of directors on 30 march 2009 and were
signed on its behalf by
gigi levy  aviad kobrine
chief executive ofﬁ cer chief financial ofﬁcer
the notes on pages 54 to 78 form part of these financial statements
16254888com backindd   51 16254888com backindd   51 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 52
16254 842009 proof 7
group statement of cash flows
for the year ended 31 december 2008
year ended year ended year ended year ended
31 december 31 december 31december 31 december
2008 2008 2007 2007
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
cash flows from operating activities
 profit before income tax 40242 37434
adjustments for 
 depreciation 5504 4192
loss on sale of property plant and equipment 75 –
amortisation 1826 1550
interest received 3255 5434
share benefit charges 8391 7800
52783 45542
decreaseincrease in trade receivables 4404 7241
increase in other accounts receivables 3441 2620
increase in trade payables 810 2186
increase in liabilities to customers 6870 3743
decreaseincrease in other accounts payables 669 7663
cash generated from operations 60757 49273
income tax paid 4363 3075
net cash generated from operating activities 56394 46198
cash flows from investing activities
 acquisition of assets comprising of the online bingo business
of globalcom limited see note 10 25311 17142
purchase of property plant and equipment 8852 7574
proceeds from sale of property plant and equipment 29 –
interest received 3255 5434
acquisition of available for sale assets – 759
acquisition of intangible assets 513 –
internally generated intangible assets 5303 –
net cash used in investing activities 36695 20041
cash flows from financing activities
 exercise of market value options 65 –
dividends paid 25628 36205
net cash used in financing activities 25563 36205
net decrease in cash and cash equivalents 5864 10048
cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year  104308 114356
cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 98444 104308
the notes on pages 54 to 78 form part of these financial statements
16254888com backindd   52 16254888com backindd   52 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 53
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
1 general information
company description and activities 
888 holdings public limited company the “company“ and its subsidiaries together the “group” was founded in 1997 and originally 
operated as a holding company domiciled in the british virgin islands on 12 january 2000 the company was continued in antigua and 
barbuda as a corporation under the international business corporation act 1982 with registered number 12512 on 17 december 2003 
the company redomiciled in gibraltar with the company number 90099 on 4 october 2005 the company listed on the london stock 
exchange
the group is the owner of innovative proprietary software solutions providing a range of virtual online gaming services over the internet 
including casino poker bingo sport and backgammon to end users and also provide these services through business partners in 
addition the group provide payment services customer support and online advertising
cassava enterprises gibraltar limited and brigend limited both subsidiaries carried out the operations of the group during the year
principally under the name www888com under the terms of the gaming licences issued in gibraltar
definitions 
in these financial statements
the company 888 holdings public limited company
the group 888 holdings public limited company and its subsidiaries
subsidiaries companies over which the company has control as defined in international accounting standard 27 “consolidated 
 and separate financial statements” and whose accounts are consolidated with those of the company
related parties as defined in international accounting standard 24 — “related party disclosures”
2 significant accounting policies
the significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows
basis of preparation
the consolidated financial statements of the group have been prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards 
including international accounting standards “ias” and interpretations adopted by the international accounting standards board “iasb”
and endorsed for use by companies listed on an eu regulated market
the significant accounting policies applied in the financial statements of the group in the prior years are applied consistently in these 
financial statements
the financial statements are presented in thousands of us dollars us’000 because that is the currency the group primarily operates in
the consolidated financial statements comply with the gibraltar companies accounts act 1999 the gibraltar companies consolidated 
accounts act 1999 and the gibraltar companies act
the following standards and interpretations issued by the iasb or the international financial reporting interpretations committee 
ifric are effective for the first time in the current financial year and have been adopted by the group with no significant impact on its 
consolidated results or financial position
ifric 11 ifrs 2 — group and treasury share transactions effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 march 2007 ifric 11 has 
been endorsed for use in the eu the group has adopted ifric 11 ‘group and treasury share transactions’ the effect of adopting this is 
that the parent company recognises as a cost of investment the value of its own shares that it makes available for the purpose of granting 
share options to employees or contractors of its subsidiaries this has no impact on the group financial statements and no impact on the 
prior year profit or net assets of the parent company
ifric 12 — service concession arrangements effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2008 ifric 12 was due to 
be applied in these financial statements but it has not yet been endorsed for use in the eu however it has no impact on these financial 
statements
ifric 14 — the limit on a defined benefit asset minimum funding requirements and their interaction effective for annual periods 
beginning on or after 1 january 2008 ifric 14 has been endorsed for use in the eu
the following standards and interpretations issued by the iasb or ifric have not been adopted by the group as these were not effective 
for the year 2008 the group is currently assessing the impact these standards and interpretations will have on the presentation of its 
consolidated results in future periods
16254888com backindd   53 16254888com backindd   53 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 54
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
2 significant accounting policies continued
ias 1 amendment — presentation of financial statements effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 — ias 1 
has been endorsed for use in the eu
ifric 13 — customer loyalty programmes effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 july 2008 ifric 13 has been endorsed 
for use in the eu
ias 23 amendment — borrowing costs effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 ias 23 has been endorsed for 
use in the eu
ias 27 amendment — consolidated and separate financial statements effective for periods beginning on or after 1 july 2009 ias 27 
has not been endorsed for use in the eu
ifrs 2 amendment — vesting conditions and cancellations effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 
ifrs 2 amendment has been endorsed for use in the eu
ifrs 3 revised — business combinations effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 ifrs 3 revised has 
not yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ifrs 8 — operating segments effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 contains requirements for the disclosure
of information about an entity’s operating segments and also about the entity’s products and services the geographical areas in which it 
operates and its major customers the standard is concerned only with disclosure and replaces ias 14 — segment reporting ifrs 8 has 
been endorsed for use in the eu
amendments to ias 32 financial instruments presentation and ias 1 presentation of financial statements — puttable financial 
instruments and obligations arising on liquidation effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 these 
amendments have not been endorsed for use in the eu
ifrs 1 revised — first time adoption of ifrs effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 july 2009 ifrs 1 revised has not 
yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ifric 15 — agreements for the construction of real estate effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 ifric 
15 has not yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ifric 16 — hedges of a net investment in a foreign operation effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 october 2008 
ifric 16 has not yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ifric 17 — distributions of noncash assets to owners effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 july 2009 ifric 17 has 
not yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ifric 18 — transfer of assets from customers effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 july 2009 ifric 18 has not yet 
been endorsed for use in the eu
ias 39 amended — financial instruments recognition and measurement eligible hedged items effective for accounting periods 
beginning on or after 1 july 2009 ias 39 amended has not yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ias 39 amended — reclassification of financial assets effective date and transition effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 
1 july 2009 ias 39 amended has not yet been endorsed for use in the eu 
ifrs 1 first time adoption of ifrs and ias 27 consolidated and separate financial statements amended effective for accounting 
periods beginning on or after 1 january 2009 this amendment has not yet been endorsed for use in the eu
ias 39 financial instruments recognition and measurement and ifrs 7 financial instruments disclosures amended effective for 
periods beginning on or after 1 july 2008 this amendment has not been adopted for use in the eu 
critical accounting policies estimates and judgements
the preparation of consolidated financial statements under ifrs requires the group to make estimates and judgements that affect the 
application of policies and reported amounts estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience 
and other factors including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances actual results may 
differ from these estimates
16254888com backindd   54 16254888com backindd   54 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 55
16254 842009 proof 7
2 significant accounting policies continued
included in this note are accounting policies which cover areas that the directors consider require estimates and assumptions which 
have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next financial year these 
policies together with references to the related notes to the financial statements can be found below
taxation note 7
intangible assets   note 11
impairment of goodwill and intangible assets  note 11
sharebased payments  note 21
regulatory compliance and contingent liabilities   note 26
discontinued operations
as a result of enactment of the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act “uigea” in october 2006 the group withdrew from offering 
realmoney activity to the us facing market
although the group did not operate the us facing business as a separate business it was a separate geographical segment of the 
group’s business and in accordance with ifrs 5 — “noncurrent assets held for sale and discontinued operations” the income
statement and related notes were required to show continued and discontinued operations separately
there was no impact of these matters in respect of the year ended 31 december 2008
basis of consolidation
the consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the company and its subsidiaries the subsidiaries are companies 
controlled by 888 holdings public limited company control exists where the company has the power to govern the financial and 
operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities subsidiaries are consolidated from the date the parent gained 
control until such time as control ceases 
the financial statements of the subsidiaries are included in the consolidated financial statements using the purchase method of 
accounting on the date of the acquisition the assets and liabilities of a subsidiary are measured at their fair values and any excess of the 
fair value of the consideration over the fair values of the identifiable net assets acquired is recognised as goodwill
intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated on consolidation
the financial statements of subsidiaries are prepared for the same reporting period as the parent company and using consistent 
accounting policies
total revenue
revenue is recognised to the extent that it is probable that economic benefits will flow to the group and the revenue can be reliably 
measured revenue is recognised in the accounting periods in which the transactions occurred
total revenue consists of revenue from online gaming and revenue generated from processing customers’ cross currency deposits and 
withdrawals total revenue comprises of the following 
casino
casino winnings that are the differences between the amounts of bets placed by customers less amounts won by customers
poker
ring games  rake which is the commission charged from each winning hand played
tournaments entry fees charged for participation in poker tournaments are recognised when the tournament has concluded
emerging offerings 
revenue from emerging offerings is defined as the commission charged from winnings or entry fees charged for participation in a
tournament and winnings from sportsbook activity in the case of white label activity revenue is the net commission charged
casino winnings revenues from the poker business and emerging offerings are stated after deduction of certain bonuses granted 
to customers 
other operating income 
other operating income consists mainly of revenue generated from processing customers’ cross currency deposits and withdrawals
16254888com backindd   55 16254888com backindd   55 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 56
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
2 significant accounting policies continued
foreign currency 
monetary assets and liabilities denominated in nonus dollar currencies are translated into us dollar equivalents using year end spot 
foreign exchange rates nonmonetary assets and liabilities are translated using exchange rates prevailing at the dates of the transactions 
exchange rate differences on foreign currency transactions are included in administrative expenses
the results and financial position of all group entities that have a functional currency different from us dollars are translated into the 
presentation currency as follows
i  monetary assets and liabilities for each balance sheet presented are translated at the closing rate at the date of that balance sheet
ii  income and expenses for each income statement are translated at an average exchange rate unless this average is not a reasonable 
approximation of the cumulative effect of the rates prevailing on the transaction dates in which case income and expenses are
translated at the dates of the transactions and
iii  exchange rate differences on translation of group entities that have functional currencies different from us dollars are included in 
administrative expenses
taxation
the tax expense represents tax payable for the year based on currently applicable tax rates
deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognised where the carrying amount of an asset or liability in the balance sheet differs from its tax 
base it is accounted for using the balance sheet liability method recognition of deferred tax assets is restricted to those instances where
it is probable that taxable profit will be available against which the difference can be utilised such assets and liabilities are not recognised 
if the temporary differences arise from goodwill or from the initial recognition other than in a business combination of other assets and 
liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the taxable profit nor the accounting profit the amount of the asset or liability is determined 
using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the balance sheet date and are expected to apply when the deferred 
tax liabilitiesassets are settledrecovered 
intangible assets
acquisitions
identifiable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities that meet the conditions for recognition under ifrs 3 are recognised at their fair value 
at the acquisition date the identified intangibles are amortised over the useful economic life of the assets for acquisitions during the year 
2007 the useful economic life of the intangible assets acquired is estimated to be between three months and four years intangible assets 
are reviewed annually for evidence of impairment any impairment in carrying value is charged to the consolidated income statement
internally generated intangible assets
expenditure incurred on development activities is capitalised only when the expenditure will lead to new or substantially improved products 
or processes the products or processes are technically and commercially feasible and the group has sufficient resources to complete 
development all other development expenditure is expensed subsequent expenditure on capitalised intangible assets is capitalised only 
where it clearly increases the economic benefits to be derived from the asset to which it relates the group estimates the useful life of 
these assets as between 3 and 5 years
goodwill
goodwill represents the excess of the cost of a business combination over the interest in the fair value of the identifiable assets liabilities 
and contingent liabilities acquired cost comprises the fair value of any assets acquired liabilities assumed and equity instruments issued 
plus any direct costs of acquisition
goodwill is capitalised as an intangible asset with any impairment in carrying value being charged to the consolidated income statement 
where the fair value of identifiable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities exceed the fair value of consideration paid the excess is 
credited in full to the consolidated income statement on the acquisition
property plant and equipment
property plant and equipment is stated at historic cost less accumulated depreciation carrying amounts are reviewed at each balance 
sheet date for impairment
depreciation is calculated using the straightline method at annual rates estimated to write off the cost of the assets less their estimated 
residual values over their expected useful lives the annual depreciation rates are as follows
it equipment 33
office furniture and equipment 7–15
motor vehicles 15
leasehold improvements over the shorter of the term of the lease or useful lives
16254888com backindd   56 16254888com backindd   56 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 57
16254 842009 proof 7
2 significant accounting policies continued
impairment of nonfinancial assets
impairment tests on goodwill and other intangible assets with indefinite useful economic lives are undertaken annually on 31 december
and where applicable an impairment loss is recognized immediately in the income statement other nonfinancial assets are subject to 
impairment tests whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying amount may not be recoverable where the 
carrying value of an asset exceeds its recoverable amount ie the higher of value in use and fair value less costs to sell the asset is 
written down accordingly
where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset the impairment test is carried out on the asset’s cash 
generating unit ie the lowest group of assets in which the asset belongs for which there are separately identifiable cash flows
financial instruments
the group does not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading purposes 
trade receivables
trade receivables are recognised at fair value and carried at amortised cost and principally comprise amounts due from creditcard
companies and from epayment companies an estimate for doubtful debts is made when collection of the full amount is no longer 
probable bad debts are written off when identified
cash and cash equivalents
cash comprises cash in hand and balances with banks cash equivalents are shortterm highly liquid investments that are readily 
convertible to known amounts of cash they include shortterm deposits originally purchased with maturities of three months or less 
equity
equity issued by the company is recorded as the proceeds received net of direct issue costs
trade and other payables
trade and other payables are recognised at fair value and carried at amortised cost
liabilities to customers
liabiltiies to customers comprises the amounts that customers place in the group’s electronic “wallet” or bankroll including provision 
for bonuses granted by the group less management fees and charges applied to customer accounts along with full provision for 
jackpots these amounts are repayable on demand in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions
availableforsale financial assets
availableforsale financial assets comprise nonderivative financial assets not included in any of the above financial asset categories 
are classified as availableforsale and comprise principally the group’s investments in entities not qualifying as subsidiaries they 
are carried at fair value with changes in fair value recognised directly in a separate component of equity where there is a significant 
decline in the fair value of an available for sale financial asset the full amount of the impairment including any amount previously 
charged to equity is recognised in the income statement
chargebacks 
the cost of chargebacks is included in operating expenses
leases
leases are classified as finance leases wherever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to the 
group all other leases are classified as operating leases and rentals payable are charged to income on a straightline basis over the term 
of the lease
provisions
provisions are recognised when the group has a present or constructive obligation as a result of a past event from which it is probable that
it will result in an outflow of economic benefits that can be reasonably estimated
segment information
a business segment is a distinguishable component of the group that is engaged in providing an individual product or service or a 
group of related products or services and that is subject to risks and returns that are different from those of other business segments a 
geographical segment is a distinguishable component of the group that is engaged in providing products or services within a particular 
environment and that is subject to risks and returns that are different from those of components operating in other economic environments
16254888com backindd   57 16254888com backindd   57 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 58
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
2 significant accounting policies continued
the group operates in the following online gaming segments
l casino
l poker
l emerging offerings comprises mainly the newly established b2b business bingo business 888’s sportsbook live dealer offering
and 888’s backgammon offering
dividends
dividends are recognised when they become legally payable in the case of interim dividends this is when paid in the case of final 
dividends this is when approved by the shareholders at the annual general meeting
sharebased payments
where the company grants its employees or contractors shares nil priced options or market value options the fair value at the date of 
grant is charged to the income statement over the vesting period nonmarket performance conditions are taken into account by adjusting 
the number of instruments expected to vest at each balance sheet date so that ultimately the cumulative amount recognised over the 
vesting period is based on the number of instruments that eventually vest
3 segment information
business segments 
year ended
31 december 2008
emerging
casino poker offerings consolidated
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
total revenue 135069 77252 44541 256862
other operating income 3621  2071 – 5692
total operating income 138690 79323 44541 262554
result 
segment result 98865 37358 23101 159324
unallocated corporate expenses
1
122010
operating profit  37314
finance income  2928
tax expense 3057
profit for the year attributable to equity holders of parent 37185
assets
unallocated corporate assets   182498
total assets 182498
liabilities
segment liabilities — poker  23275
segment liabilities — casino  5681
segment liabilities — emerging offerings  2524
unallocated corporate liabilities  39658
total liabilities 71138
1
including share benefit charges of us8391000
16254888com backindd   58 16254888com backindd   58 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 59
16254 842009 proof 7
3 segment information continued
year ended
31 december 2007
emerging
casino poker offerings consolidated
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
total revenue 118120 80817 14446 213383
other operating income 2111 1452 – 3563
total operating income 120231 82269 14446 216946
result 
segment result 74061 41814 5547 121422
unallocated corporate expenses
1
88393
operating profit  33029
finance income  4957
tax expense 3199
profit for the year — continuing operations 34787
profit of the year — discontinued operations — note 25a 552
profit for the year attributable to equity holders of parent 34235
assets
unallocated corporate assets   182181
total assets 182181
liabilities
segment liabilities — poker  20013
segment liabilities — casino  5533
segment liabilities — emerging offerings  868
deferred acquisition liability — emerging offerings  25145
unallocated corporate liabilities  37895
total liabilities 89454
1
including share benefit charges of us7800000
other than where amounts are allocated specifically to the casino poker and emerging offerings segments above the expenses assets 
and liabilities relate jointly to all segments any allocation of these items would be arbitrary
geographical segments
the group’s performance can also be reviewed by considering the geographical markets and geographical locations within which the 
group operates this information is outlined below
total operating income by geographical market
other total
total operating operating
revenue income income
year ended year ended year ended
31 december 31 december 31 december
2008 2008 2008
us’000 us’000 us’000
uk  105122 2301 107423
europe excluding uk  112093 2974 115067
americas excluding usa  21743 417 22160
rest of world  17904 – 17904
total operating income 256862 5692 262554
16254888com backindd   59 16254888com backindd   59 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 60
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
3 segment information continued
other total
total operating operating
revenue income income
year ended year ended year ended
31 december 31 december 31 december
2007 2007 2007
us’000 us’000 us’000
uk 91404 1597 93001
europe excluding uk 88445 1622 90067
americas excluding usa 17684 344 18028
rest of world  15850 – 15850
total operating income 213383 3563 216946
assets by geographical location
carrying amount  additions to
 of segment assets property plant
by location and equipment
year ended year ended year ended year ended
31 december 31 december 31 december 31 december
2008 2007 2008 2007
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
caribbean  373 454 192 51
europe excluding uk 151468 161168 6105 2546
rest of world 30657 20559 2555 5058
182498 182181 8852 7655
4 administrative expenses
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
share benefit charges — all equitysettled  8391 7800
other administrative expenses  24678 16860
administrative expenses — continuing operations  33069 24660
administrative expenses — discontinued operations   – 552
administrative expenses 33069 25212
16254888com backindd   60 16254888com backindd   60 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 61
16254 842009 proof 7
5 operating profit
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
operating profit is stated after charging
staff costs see note 6   74695 61301
audit fees  381 349
other fees paid to auditors in respect of taxation services   29 26
depreciation within operating expenses  5504 4192
amortisation within operating expenses  1826 1550
chargebacks   4816 2846
exchange losses gains  2630 1117
payment service providers’ commissions  15256 13359
share benefit charges — all equitysettled  8391 7800
6 employee benefits
staff cost comprise of the following elements 
 2008 2007
us’000 us’000
wages and salaries 69636 54009
social security  4966 4410
pension costs  4050 2882
78652 61301
staff costs capitalized in respect of internally generated assets  3957 –
74695 61301
in the income statement total staff costs excluding share benefit charge of us8391000 2007 us7800000 are included within the 
following expenditure categories
 2008 2007
us’000 us’000
operating expenses  40287 30967
research and development expenses  20588 18672
administrative expenses  13820 11662
74695 61301
average headcount number of employees by category
2008 2007
number number
operation  574 493
research and development   167 148
administration   143 124
884 765
at 31 december 2008 the company employed 931 2007 805 staff
severance pay liability — israel
the group’s employees in israel are eligible to receive certain benefits from the group in certain defined circumstances as such the 
group operates a defined benefit severance pay plan which requires contributions to be made to separately administrated funds
the method used to determine the current service cost and the present value of the defined benefit obligation according to ias 19 
‘employee benefits’ is the projected unit credit actuarial cost method actuarial gains and losses are recognised by the group using the 
equity method in prior years the group neither recorded nor accrued any actuarial gains or losses using the equity method since there
were no material adjustments or effects of actuarial changes
in 2008 the group recognised actuarial losses according to the equity method as reflected in the consolidated statement of recognised 
income and expenses
16254888com backindd   61 16254888com backindd   61 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 62
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
6 employee benefits continued
the following table summarises the employee benefits figures as included in the group’s financial statements for 2008 and 2007 
respectively
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
severance pay liability within trade and other payables  276 280
income statement  1732 1471
actuarial movements on severance pay liability deducted from retained earnings  949 –
the main actuarial assumptions used in determining the fair value of the group’s employee benefits plan are shown below
 2008 2007
 
discount rate nominal
1
322 65
estimated increase in employee benefits costs   3 3
voluntary termination rate 70 85
1
the discount rates are based on israeli government bonds and reflect inflation rates of 06 and 275 in 2008 and 2007 respectively
 
7 taxation
corporate taxes
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
current tax  2988 3190
deferred tax  69 9
taxation expense 3057 3199
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
profit before taxation 40242 37434
tax at effective tax rate in gibraltar – –
effect of overseas taxation 2988 3190
effect of deferred tax originating in overseas jurisdictions 69 9
total tax charge for the year 3057 3199
current tax is calculated with reference to the profit of the company and its subsidiaries in their respective countries of operation
gibraltar —the company and its gibraltar registered subsidiaries are subject to the provisions of the gibraltar companies taxation 
and concessions act the “ctca” as taxexempt companies subject to a change of ownership or activity of a taxexempt company
the grandfathering of taxexempt benefits in respect of existing taxexempt companies will extend up to 31 december 2010  domestic 
corporate tax in gibraltar is 27 20082009 gibraltar’s chief minister has announced further reductions in anticipation of the introduction 
of a flat tax rate of 10 in 2010 a consultation is in place with respect to the new tax regime in gibraltar but it is widely anticipated 
following government indications that it is expected the new rules will be in place by july 2009 but not come into effect until july 2010
israel — 888 have entered into certain transfer pricing agreements with the israeli income tax commissioner the agreement in respect 
of random logic limited is effective until the end of 2010 the agreement in respect of the israeli branch of intersafe global limited was 
effective until the end of 2007 accordingly the group has discontinued the use of this branch domestic corporate tax in israel in 2008 is 
27 2007 29 and is scheduled to go down to 25 from 2010 and onwards
uk — 888’s subsidiary in the uk pays corporate tax in the uk at the applicable rate of 28 2007 30
16254888com backindd   62 16254888com backindd   62 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 63
16254 842009 proof 7
8 earnings per share
basic earnings per share from continuing operations
basic earnings per share have been calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number 
of shares in issue during the year
diluted earnings per share
in accordance with ias 33 “earnings per share” the weighted average number of shares for diluted earnings per share takes into account 
all potentially dilutive shares and share options granted which are not included in the number of shares for basic earnings per share in 
addition certain employee options have also been excluded from the calculation of diluted eps as their exercise price is greater than the 
weighted average share price during the year and it would not be advantageous for the holders to exercise the option the number of 
options excluded from the diluted eps calculation is 3117110 2007 4765036 
 year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
profit from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders 37185 34787
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue 341515007 338837328
effect of dilutive ordinary shares and share options 5807035 7232097
weighted average number of dilutive ordinary shares 347322042 346069425
continuing operations
basic  109¢ 103¢
diluted  107¢ 101¢
discontinued operations — note 25d
basic  – 02¢
diluted  – 02¢
total
basic  109¢ 101¢
diluted  107¢ 99¢
earnings per share excluding share benefit charges
the directors believe that eps excluding share benefit charges better reflects the underlying performance of the business and assists in 
providing a clearer view of the performance of the group it is also a performance measure used internally to manage the operations of 
the business
reconciliation of profit to profit excluding share benefit charges
 year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
profit from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders 37185 34787
share benefit charges  8391 7800
profit excluding share benefit charges 45576 42587
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue 341515007 338837328
weighted average number of dilutive ordinary shares 347322042 346069425
continuing operations
basic earnings per share excluding share benefit charges  134¢ 126¢
diluted earnings per share excluding share benefit charges  131¢ 123¢
discontinued operations — note 25d
basic earnings per share excluding share benefit charges  – 02¢
diluted earnings per share excluding share benefit charges  – 02¢
total
basic earnings per share excluding share benefit charges  134¢ 124¢
diluted earnings per share excluding share benefit charges  131¢ 121¢
16254888com backindd   63 16254888com backindd   63 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 64
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
9 dividends
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
dividends paid  25628 36205
the board of directors will recommend to the shareholders a final divided in respect of the year ended 31 december 2008 of 29¢
10  acquisitions made during the prior year 
online bingo business 
on 16 may 2007 the group acquired the assets comprising the online bingo business of globalcom limited “bingo business” for an all
cash consideration 
in calculating the goodwill arising on acquisition the fair value of the net assets of the bingo business were valued by a professional 
valuation firm and recognised in accordance with ifrs 3 and adjustments from book value have been made where necessary these 
adjustments are summarized as follows
 book value  fair value
 on acquisition adjustments fair value
us’000 us’000 us’000
property plant and equipment
1
81 – 81
intangible assets
2
200 4114 4314
net assets  281 4114 4395
1
see note 12
2
see note 11
the fair value relates to the recognition of customer lists us888000 royalty agreements us1113000 licensing agreements 
us2113000 and other intangible assets us200000 acquired as part of the acquisition these intangibles are being amortised over 
their estimated useful economic lives of between three months and four years all intangible assets on acquisition have been identified and 
fair valued the remaining goodwill represents the access to future trade with the bingo customers  
us’000
fair value of net assets acquired  4395
goodwill  37892
fair value of consideration including expenses  42287
which is represented by
cash consideration to globalcom limited  10723
deferred cash consideration to globalcom limited paid during 2007  5398
deferred cash consideration to globalcom limited paid during 2008  16095
earnout payment paid during 2008
1
9050
expenses  other costs  1021
total cash consideration 42287
1
an earnout payment of us905 million was payable in cash 12 months from completion on the basis of actual performance during
financial year 2007 which was accomplished
the revenue and operating profit generated from this acquisition in the postacquisition period to 31 december 2007 were 144 million 
and 52 million respectively had the business been owned for the entire year the revenue and operating profit for 2007 would have been 
202 million and 83 million respectively
16254888com backindd   64 16254888com backindd   64 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 65
16254 842009 proof 7
11 intangible assets
internally generated  acquired
intangible assets intangible assets goodwill total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
cost or valuation
at 1 january 2007 – – – –
acquisitions – 4314 37892 42206
at 31 december 2007 – 4314 37892 42206
cost or valuation
additions  5303 – 166 5469
acquisitions — 13 500 513
at 31 december 2008 5303 4327 38558 48188
amortisation 
at 1 january 2007 – 1550 – 1550
at 31 december 2007 – 1550 – 1550
charge for the year 363 1463 – 1826
at 31 december 2008 363 3013 – 3376
carrying amounts
at 31 december 2008 4940 1314 38558 44812
at 31 december 2007 – 2764 37892 40656
acquired intangible assets and goodwill
brought forward intangible assets and goodwill including an increase in goodwill during the year of us166000 due to a further
contingent consideration paid during the year are associated with the cashgenerating online bingo business unit acquired during the prior 
year the intangible assets include acquisitions of customer lists royalty agreements licensing agreements and certain software developed 
acquired as part of the acquisition of the assets comprising the online bingo business of globalcom limited these intangibles are being 
amortised over their estimated useful economic lives of up to four years on acquisition the intangible assets have been identified and 
valued using third party professional valuers 
at the year end the carrying valueinuse was determined by discounting the expected future cash flows of the online bingo business 
to their present value the key assumptions for the valueinuse calculations were those regarding discount rate and growth rates of 
the business the directors estimate discount rates that reflect the current market assessments of the time value of money and risks 
appropriate to the online bingo business the discount rate that is considered by the directors to be appropriate is a discount rate of 12 
being the group’s specific weighted average cost of capital
in estimating the future cash flows the group has used conservative estimates in respect of revenues generated and costs incurred 
growth rates of the online bingo business are based on past experience and projections of future changes in the online gaming market 
taking into account external sources of information such as analysts’ research reports these suggest that bingo is expected to remain 
one of the fastest developing sectors with an estimated compound annual growth rate cagr of 14 by the end of 2012 the group 
has used lower and declining growth rates in estimating the future cash flows conservatively reflecting the current uncertainties about the 
medium term global economic outlook the directors have used forecasts for the next five years of the expected cash flows of which the 
first year is based on the group’s current approved budget 
an annual growth rate of 4 was used for 2009 and 2010 2 for 2011 and nil for 2012–2013 following year five the group extrapolates 
cash flows in perpetuity using an estimated growth rate of 1 which is based upon the expected longterm growth rate of the uk 
economy costs associated with the bingo cash generating unit were projected as a percentage of revenues and have been assumed to 
continue to increase by 10 in each of the five year period to 2013 over and above the level of growth in revenues
the directors are not aware at this time of any need to change their key assumptions on which they have based their determination of 
the recoverable amount of the goodwill which would cause its carrying amount to exceed its recoverable amount in fact although such 
movements are not expected to arise neither a 1 a decrease in the growth rate in each of the next three years nor a 5 increase in the 
discount rate would have led to an impairment of the acquired intangible assets and goodwill in the current year
the group regularly monitors the carrying value of its acquired intangible assets and goodwill or when such events or changes in 
circumstances indicate that these may be impaired the result of the review undertaken at 31 december 2008 was that no impairment 
needs to be recognised and the carrying value of the acquired intangible assets and goodwill is considered appropriate
16254888com backindd   65 16254888com backindd   65 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 66
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
11 intangible assets continued
during the year the group acquired an internet domain name based business which is used to generate traffic into the group’s various 
websites consideration of us513000 was fully paid before year end contingent consideration of up to us800000 is not expected to 
be paid
the directors have performed a valuation of the intangible asset acquired the directors took into account the following factors amongst 
others in determining the fair value of this intangible asset
l domain’s ranking with search engines
l traffic ranking as a measure of popularity
l number of unique visitors to the site
l number of links pointing to the domain
the directors concluded that the fair value that should be assigned to the intangible asset is us13000 whilst the remainder of 
us500000 is to be recognised as goodwill given that trade balances acquired were incidental no further ifrs 3 disclosures have been
given on the grounds of materiality
internally generated intangible assets
during the year the group has put in place processes and procedure which enable it to ascertain technological feasibility before
development costs are incurred and therefore be in a position to capitalise costs incurred after that point such expenditure is only 
capitalized when the development cost meet the definition of an intangible asset and the recognition criteria as set out in ias 38 
‘intangible assets’ 
the group estimates the useful life of these assets as between 3 and 5 years these assets are subject to impairment test wherever 
events or changes in circumstances indicate their carrying amount may not be recoverable on the same basis as described above for 
acquired intangible assets at 31 december 2008 no impairment needs to be recognised and the carrying value of internally generated 
assets is considered appropriate
12 property plant and equipment
office
furniture and motor leasehold
it equipment equipment vehicles improvements total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
cost
at 1january 2007 13777 2331 296 10406 26810
additions 4156 105 110  3203 7574
acquisitions  81 – – – 81
disposals 1 –––1
at 31 december 2007 18013 2436 406 13609 34464
additions 7502 137 205  1008 8852
disposals – 72 83 – 155
at 31 december 2008 25515 2501 528 14617 43161
accumulated depreciation
at 1 january 2007 9661 826 154 3136 13777
charge for the year 2845 230 49 1068 4192
disposals 1 –––1
at 31 december 2007 12505 1056 203 4204 17968
charge for the year 3986 232 69 1217 5504
disposals – 17 34 – 51
at 31 december 2008 16491 1271 238 5421 23421
depreciated cost
at 31 december 2008  9024 1230 290 9196 19740
at 31 december 2007 5508 1380 203 9405 16496
16254888com backindd   66 16254888com backindd   66 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 67
16254 842009 proof 7
13 financial assets
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
opening balance at the beginning of the year  654 –
acquisition of available for sale assets during the year  – 759
adjustment to market price at year end  431 105
223 654
there were no disposals or impairment provisions in respect of available for sale financial assets availableforsale assets are quoted equity 
securities the fair value of which is based on their published market price all the financial assets are availableforsale investments
14 deferred taxes
deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial 
reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes the group’s deferred tax assets resulting from temporary differences
are as follows
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
accrued severance pay  37 38
provision for share benefit charges 174 181
provision for vacation 370 300
provision for convalescence 25 18
606 537
15 cash and cash equivalents
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
cash and cash equivalents  97522 103505
restricted cash  922 803
98444 104308
restricted cash primarily relates to deposits held by banks for guarantees
16 trade and other receivables
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
trade receivables 9026 13430
corporate tax  106 –
other receivables and prepayments  9541 6100
18673 19530
the carrying value of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair value
16254888com backindd   67 16254888com backindd   67 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 68
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
17 share capital
share capital comprises the following
 authorised
31 december 31 december 31 december 31 december
2008 2007 2008 2007
number number us’000 us’000
ordinary shares of £0005 each 426387500 426387500 3880 3880
426387500 426387500 3880 3880
allotted called up and fully paid
31 december 31 december 31 december 31 december
2008 2007 2008 2007
number number us’000 us’000
ordinary shares of £0005 each 340108035 337618820 3097 3073
issue of ordinary shares of £0005 each 2740226 2489215 18 24
342848261 340108035 3115 3097
the following table includes details on issue of ordinary shares of £0005 each in respect of shares exercised and nil cost options 
exercised as part of the group’s employee share option plan see note 21 during 2008 and 2007
 ordinary shares of
issued during 2008  £0005 each
16 march 2008  105503
14 april 2008  635621
30 april 2008  320590
30 may 2008  230671
18 june 2008  475941
10 september 2008  184672
15 september 2008  152004
29 september 2008  5000
6 october 2008  527535
20 october 2008  73855
ordinary shares of
issued during 2007  £0005 each
16 april 2007  138403
4 may 2007  1002169
5 july 2007  475941
20 september 2007  212174
4 october 2007  649777
10 october 2007  10751
during 2008 the company issued 28834 shares  2007 nil  in respect of employee’s exercises of market value options
shares issued are converted into us at the exchange rate prevailing on the date of issue the issued and fully paid share capital of the 
group amounts to us3180000 2007 us3097000 and is split into 342848261 2007 340108035 ordinary shares the share
capital in uk sterling gbp is £1714241 2007 £1700540 and translates at an average exchange rate of us185 2007 182 
to gbp 
16254888com backindd   68 16254888com backindd   68 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 69
16254 842009 proof 7
18  share capital and reserves
share share availablefor retained
capital premium sale reserve earnings total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
balance at 1 january 2007 3073 – – 83929 87002
net profit for the year – – – 34235 34235
dividend paid – – – 36205 36205
issue of shares 24 – – 24 –
valuation losses of availableforsale investments – – 105 – 105
share benefit charges – – – 7800 7800
balance at 1 january 2008 3097 – 105 89735 92727
net profit for the year – – – 37185 37185
actuarial movements on severance pay liability   949 949
dividend paid – – – 25628 25628
exercise of market value options – 65 – – 65
issue of shares 18 – – 18 –
valuation losses of availableforsale investments – – 431 – 431
share benefit charges – – — 8391 8391
balance at 31 december 2008 3115 65 536 108716 111360
the following describes the nature and purpose of each reserve within equity
share capital — represents the nominal value of shares allotted calledup and fully paid for
share premium — represents the amount subscribed for share capital in excess of nominal value
availableforsale reserve — represents the gain or loss arising from a change in the fair value of an availableforsale financial assets
retained earnings — represents the cumulative net gains and losses recognised in the consolidated income statement
19 trade and other payables
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
trade payables 6107 5297
corporate taxes  – 1131
other payables and accrued expenses  31747 31467
deferred acquisition liability  – 25145
37854 63040
the carrying value of trade and other payables approximates to their fair value
16254888com backindd   69 16254888com backindd   69 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 70
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
20 investments in significant subsidiaries 
percentage of percentage of
equity interest equity interest
country of 2008 2007
name incorporation   nature of business
intersafe global limited gibraltar 100 100 payment processor
cassava enterprises limited antigua 100 100 customer call centre operator
virtual services limited bvi 100 100 advertising
virtual holdings management services
gibraltar limited gibraltar 100 100 operates group headquarters
intersafe global europe limited gibraltar 100 100 payment processor
cassava enterprises gibraltar limited gibraltar 100 100 gaming web site operator
virtual marketing services uk limited uk 100 100 advertising
cassava sports limited gibraltar 100 100 domain site owner through which a
third party operates a betting exchange
active media limited bvi 100 100 customer call centre employer
virtual marketing services gibraltar limited gibraltar 100 100 marketing acquisition
dixie operation limited antigua 100 100 customer call centre operator
random logic limited israel 100 100 research development and marketing
brigend limited  gibraltar 100 100 bingo business operator
actecash limited
1
gibraltar – – ewallet service
fordart limited gibraltar 100 100 general commercial business activities
1
actecash is managed as a unit of the group and utilises staff employed by the group in accordance with ias 27 “consolidated and 
 separate financial statements” the group is deemed to have control of actecash by virtue of the fact it has the power to govern the
financial and operating policies of this company and derives economic benefit from doing so actecash is owned by the actecash
and spo ventures trust and shares are held for the benefit of the group as such actecash has been consolidated as part of
the group
21 sharebased payment
prior to flotation the company adopted two equitysettled employee share incentive plans — the 888 allemployee share plan and the 
long term incentive plan awards were granted under the 888 allemployee share plan conditional upon flotation the 888 allemployee 
share plan is open to all employees and executive directors of the group who are not within six months of their normal retirement age at 
the discretion of the remuneration committee awards under this scheme will vest in instalments over a fixed period of up to four years
the company grants awards to certain executive directors and members of its senior management these awards are subject to 
performance conditions imposed by the remuneration committee at the dates of grant 
 details of shares and share options granted as part of the 888 allemployee share plan and shares granted vesting immediately on ipo 
and thereafter
 
share options granted
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
number number
outstanding at the beginning of the year  5088447 4204919
market value options granted during the year  1871423 2004880
market value options lapsed during the year  1509009 1121352
exercised during the year  28834 –
outstanding at the end of the year
12
 5422027 5088447
weighted average exercise price for options outstanding at the end of the year £150 £149
weighted average exercise price for options lapsed during the year £145 £164
1
of the total number of options outstanding at the end of the year 1843545 had vested and were exercisable at the end of the year 
 2007 1321145
2
range of exercise price for options outstanding at the end of the year is £114–£180 2007 £114–£180
16254888com backindd   70 16254888com backindd   70 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 71
16254 842009 proof 7
21 sharebased payment continued
shares granted
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
number number
outstanding at the beginning of the year  9802660 8316639
shares granted — future vesting  4258381 5218255
lapsed future vesting shares  1563223 1243019
shares issued during the year  2711392 2489215
outstanding at the end of the year  9786426 9802660
the following information is relevant in the determination of the fair value of options granted during the year under the equitysettled 888 
allemployee share plan
valuation information
2008 2007
option pricing model used  monte carlo monte carlo
weighted average share price at grant date £147 £118
weighted exercise price £147 £119
riskfree interest rate range  452–466 482–540
expected volatility of the price of the underlying share 47–52 37–78
exercise period of the market value options is from vesting until expiry of ten years after grant date
the monte carlo model takes into account all the minimum requirements set by ifrs 2 such as the exercise price of the option the 
current price of the underlying share the expected volatility of the price of the underlying share the expected dividend on the underlying 
share the expected term of the option both contractual term and based on employees’ expected behaviour and the riskfree interest rate 
for the expected term of the option
in accordance with international financial reporting standards a charge to the income statement in respect of any shares or options 
granted under the above schemes will be recognised and spread over the vesting period of the shares or options based on the fair value 
of the shares or options at the date at grant adjusted for changes in vesting conditions at each balance sheet date this charge has no 
cash impact
share benefit charges
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
charges in respect of share and option awards granted this year  2176 1756
charges in respect of share and option awards granted in previous years  6215 6044
charge for the year 8391 7800
22 related party transactions
during the year the group paid us296176 2007 us290401 in respect of rent and office expenses to companies of which mr john 
anderson is a director at 31 december 2008 the amount owed to those companies was usnil 2007 usnil
remuneration paid to the directors in the year totalled us3079000 2007 us4328000
share benefit charge in respect of awards granted to the directors totalled us1699587 2007 us3163000
16254888com backindd   71 16254888com backindd   71 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 72
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
23 commitments
lease commitments
future minimum lease commitments under property operating leases for the year ended 31 december 2007 are as follows
 
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
leases expiring within  us’000 us’000
one year  1986 2278
two to five years 7010 7533
8996 9811
the amount paid in the year was us 2801000 2007 us2574000
lease commitments on the group’s property are shown to the date of the first break clause
24 financial risk management 
the group is exposed through its operations to risks that arise from use of its financial instruments policies and procedures for managing 
these risks are set by the board following recommendations from the chief financial officer the board reviews the effectiveness of these 
procedures and if required approves specific policies and procedures in order to mitigate these risks
the main financial instruments used by the group on which financial risk arises are as follows
l cash and cash equivalents
l restricted cash
l trade and other receivables
l availableforsale financial assets
l trade and other payables
l liabilities to customers
detailed analysis of these financial instruments is as follows
 31 december 31 december
2008 2007
financial assets  us’000 us’000
trade receivables 9026 13430
other receivables  9541 6100
cash and cash equivalents  97522 103505
restricted cash  922 803
availableforsale financial asset 223 654
117234 124492
in accordance with ifrs 7 with the exception of available for sale assets all financial assets are classified as loans and receivables
 31 december 31 december
2008 2007
financial liabilities  us’000 us’000
trade payables 6107 5297
other payables and accrued expenses  31747 31467
deferred acquisition liability  – 25145
liabilities to customers  33284 26414
71138 88323
in accordance with ifrs 7 all of the above financial liabilities are held at amortised cost
at 31 december 2008 and 2007 the fair value and the book value of the group’s financial assets and liabilities were materially the same
capital
the capital employed by the group comprises equity attributable to shareholders the primary objective of the group is maximizing 
shareholders’ value which from the capital perspective is achieved by maintaining the capital structure most suited to the group’s size 
strategy and underlying business risk other than disclosed elsewhere in note 26 there are no demands or restrictions on the group’s
capital
16254888com backindd   72 16254888com backindd   72 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 73
16254 842009 proof 7
24 financial risk management continued
the main financial risk areas are as follows
credit risk
trade receivables
the group’s credit risk is primarily attributable to trade receivables who are the group’s payment service providers “psp” these are third
party companies that facilitate deposits and withdrawal of funds to and from customers’ virtual wallet with the group these are mainly 
intermediaries that transact on behalf of the main credit card companies 
the risk is that a psp would fail to discharge its obligation with regard to the balance owed to the group

the group reduces this credit risk by
l monitoring those balances on a regular basis
l arranging for the shortest possible cash settlements intervals
l replacing rolling reserve requirements where they exist with a letter of credit by a reputable financial institution
l ensuring a new psp is only contracted following various due diligence and “know your customer” procedures
l ensuring policies are in place to reduce dependency on any specific psp 
the group believes that based on the above and on extensive past experience the psp receivables are of good credit quality and there is 
no requirement to provide for any potential bad debts arising from a psp failing to discharge its obligation
none of the balances owed by the various psp are overdue or impaired
an additional credit risk the group faces relates to customer’s disputing charges made to their credit cards “chargebacks” or any other 
funding method they have used in respect of the services provided by the group customers may fail to fulfil their obligation to pay which 
will result in funds not being collected these chargebacks and uncollected deposits when occurring will be deducted at source by the 
psps from any amount due to the group as such the group provides for these eventualities by way of a provision based on analysis 
of past transactions this provision is netted off from the trade receivables balance and at 31 december 2008 was 1070000 2007 
845000 
the group’s inhouse fraud and risk management department carefully monitors deposits and withdrawals by following prevention and 
verification procedures using internally developed bespoke systems integrated with commercially available third party measures 
cash and cash equivalents
the group controls its cash position out of its gibraltar headquarters subsidiaries in its other locations israel antigua and london 
maintain minimum cash balances which are deemed required for their operations cash settlement proceeds from psps as described 
above are paid into bank accounts controlled by the treasury function in gibraltar the group segregates funds due to customers and
holds these funds in separate bank accounts these funds are not used to fund activity other than that directly related to customers the 
group maintains its funds with highly reputable financial institutions and will not hold funds with financial institutions with low credit rating 
the group maintains its cash reserve in highly liquid deposits and regularly monitors rates in order to maximize yield
restricted cash
restricted cash is mainly attributed to a deposit in respect of the group’s obligation with the developer of the offices of its subsidiary 
in israel
16254888com backindd   73 16254888com backindd   73 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 74
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
24 financial risk management continued
the group’s maximum exposure to credit risk by type of financial instrument is summarized below
 31 december 2008 31 december 2007
carrying maximum carrying maximum
value exposure value exposure
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
tradereceivables 9026 9026 13430 13430
other receivables  9541 9541 6100 6100
cash and cash equivalents 97522 97522 103505 103505
restricted cash 922 922 803 803
availableforsale financial asset 223 223 654 654
117234 117234 124492 124492
liquidity risk
liquidity risk exists in the case where the group will encounter difficulties in meeting its financial obligations as they become due the 
group monitors its liquidity in order to ensure that sufficient liquid resources are available to allow it to meet its obligations in the case of 
the group’s liability to its customers the group maintains these deposits in separate bank accounts which are not used for its daytoday 
operations the group has ensured that cash earmarked to fund its final dividend payment for 2008 is in place the group expects to 
have sufficient liquidity to meet all of its financial obligations under all reasonably expected circumstances and will not need to resort to any 
borrowing
the following table details the contractual maturity analysis of the group’s financial liabilities
 31 december 2008
trade other deferred liabilities to
payables payables
1
acquisition liability customers total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
on demand 2614 7255 – 33284 43153
in 3 months 3493 21955 – – 25448
between 3 months and 1 year – 2261 – – 2261
more than 1 year – 276 – – 276
6107 31747 – 33284 71138
1
includes other payables accrued expenses and provisions
 31 december 2007
 trade other deferred liabilities to
payables payables
1
acquisition liability customers total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
on demand 1047 5612 – 26414 33073
in 3 months 3669 23562 – – 27231
between 3 months and 1 year 581 1835 25145 – 27561
more than 1 year – 458 – – 458
5297 31467 25145 26414 88323
1
includes other payables accrued expenses and provisions
16254888com backindd   74 16254888com backindd   74 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 75
16254 842009 proof 7
24 financial risk management continued
market risk
interest rate risk
the group’s exposure to interest rate risk is limited to the interest bearing deposits in which the group invests surplus funds 
the group’s policy is to invest surplus funds in low risk money market funds or on call over night facilities the group also arranged with 
its principal bankers that excess funds are swept automatically across its accounts every night in order to maximize availability of funds 
for investments 
downside interest rate risk is minimal as the group has no borrowings a 05 movement in bank interest rates would not have a 
significant impact on finance income for the year or the prior year
currency risk
the group’s financial risk arising from exchange rate fluctuations is mainly attributed to
l mismatch between balance sheet liabilities to customers which is predominately denominated in us and the net receipts from
customers which are settled in the currency of the customer’s choice of which sterling gbp euros eur and canadian dollar 
cad are significant
l mismatch between reported revenue which is mainly generated in usd the group’s functional and reporting currency and
significant portion of deposits which are settled in local currencies
l expenses the majority of which are denominated in foreign currencies including sterling gbp the euro eur and the new israeli 
shekel ils 
the group continually monitors the foreign currency risk and takes steps where practical to ensure that the net exposure is kept to an 
acceptable level inter alia by using foreign exchange forward contracts designed to fix the economic impact of known liabilities at 31 
december 2008 and 31 december 2007 there were no outstanding forward contracts there were no significant fair value movements 
on these contracts during the year
the table below details the net financial position by currency at 31 december 2008 and 2007 
31 december 2008
gbp eur ils cad usd other total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
cash and cash equivalent 8755 1891 8254 570 78837 137 98444
receivables 4432 2703 717 413 10145 380 18790
net monetary assets 13187 4594 8971 983 88982 517 117234
payables  12212 3544 11308 21 10769 – 37854
liabilities to customers  3514 233 – – 29501 36 33284
net monetary liabilities 15726 3777 11308 21 40270 36 71138
net financial position 2539 817 2337 962 48712  481  46096
31 december 2007
 gbp eur ils cad usd other total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
cash and cash equivalent 91728 6661 1238 1425 3256 – 104308
receivables 6846 4378 1374 222 7244 120 20184
net monetary assets 98574 11039 2612 1647 10500 120 124492
payables 14004 2222 12201 26 33456 – 61909
liabilities to customers  855 13 – – 25546 – 26414
net monetary liabilities 14859 2235 12201 26 59002 – 88323
net financial position 83715 8804 9589 1621 48502 120  36169
during 2008 the board authorised the creation of a dedicated treasury function within the finance division which was set up its 
responsibility is to manage the cash resources of the group and minimise the various exposures associated with holding and investing 
these funds 
16254888com backindd   75 16254888com backindd   75 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 76
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
24 financial risk management continued
sensitivity analysis
the table below details the effect on profit before tax of a 10 strengthening and weakening in the us dollar exchange rate at the 
balance sheet date for balance sheet items denominated in sterling euros and new israeli shekels
 year ended
31 december 2008
gbp eur ils
’000 ’000 ’000
10 strengthening  237 82 191
10 weakening  237 82 191
 year ended
31 december 2007
gbp eur ils
’000 ’000 ’000
10 strengthening  8389 880 923
10 weakening  8389 880 923
25 discontinued operations
asa result of the matters fully described in note 26 the group incurred legal expenses in the prior year in assessing the extent of any 
contingent liability if any
a consolidated income statement
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
total operating income – –
operating expenses  – –
research and development expenses  – –
selling and marketing expenses  – –
administrative expenses  – 552
operating loss before reorganization costs  – 552
charges in respect of reorganization costs  – –
operating loss  – 552
finance income  – –
loss from discontinued operations – 552
16254888com backindd   76 16254888com backindd   76 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 77
16254 842009 proof 7
25 discontinued operations continued
b segment information
business segments
year ended
31 december 2008
casino poker consolidated
us’000 us’000 us’000
total revenue – – –
result 
segment result  – – –
unallocated corporate expenses  – – –
operating loss  – – –
net loss for the year  – – –
year ended
31 december 2007
casino poker consolidated
us’000 us’000 us’000
total revenue – – –
result 
segment result  – – –
unallocated corporate expenses  552
operating profit  552
net loss for the year  – – 552
the expenses relate jointly to both segments any allocation of these items would be arbitrary
c cash flows from discontinued operations
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
net cash used in operating activities  – 552
net cash generated from investing activities  – –
net cash used in financing activities  – –
net decrease in cash and cash equivalents  – 552
d earnings per share
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
loss from discontinued operations attributable to ordinary shareholders  – 552
weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue – 338873328
weighted average number of dilutive ordinary shares – 346069425
basic losses per share – 02¢
diluted losses per share – 02¢
16254888com backindd   77 16254888com backindd   77 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 78
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the consolidated financial statements
26  contingent liabilities
from time to time the group is subject to legal claims and actions against it the group takes legal advice as to the likelihood of success 
of such claims and actions 
regulatory issues 
as part of the board’s ongoing regulatory compliance and operational risk assessment process the board continues to monitor legal
and regulatory developments and their potential impact on the business and continues to take appropriate advice in respect of these 
developments 
following the enactment of the uigea on 13 october 2006 the group stopped taking any deposits from customers in the us and barred 
such customers from wagering realmoney on all of the group’s sites
notwithstanding this there remains a residual risk of an adverse impact arising from the group having had customers in the us prior to the 
enactment of the uigea the board is not able to identify reliably at this stage what if any liability may arise and accordingly no provision 
has been made
on 5 june 2007 the group announced that it has initiated preliminary discussions with the united states attorney’s office for the southern
district of new york it is too early to assess any particular outcome of these discussions
16254888com backindd   78 16254888com backindd   78 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 79
16254 842009 proof 7
company balance sheet
at 31 december 2008
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
note us’000 us’000
assets
noncurrent assets
investments in subsidiaries 2 13777 6885
financial assets 6 223 654
current assets  14000 7539
trade and other receivables 3 134683 83645
cash and cash equivalents 4 38565 87120
173248 170765
total assets 187248 178304
equity and liabilities
equity 
share capital 5 8 3115 3097
share premium  8 65 –
availableforsale reserve 8 536 105
retained earnings 8 17951 19591
total equity attributable to equity holders of the parent 20595 22583
liabilities
current liabilities
trade and other payables 7 166653 155721
total liabilities 166653 155721
total equity and liabilities 187248 178304
the financial statements on pages 79 to 83 were approved and authorised for issue by the board of directors on 30 march 2009 and were
signed on its behalf by
gigi levy  aviad kobrine
chief executive ofﬁ cer chief financial ofﬁcer
the notes on pages 82 to 83 form part of these financial statements
16254888com backindd   79 16254888com backindd   79 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 80
16254 842009 proof 7
company statement of recognised 
income and expense for the year ended 31 december 2008
year ended year ended
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
net expense recognised directly in equity  – –
net profit for the year  15615 31156
total recognised income and expense for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent 15615 31156
 
the notes on pages 82 to 83 form part of these financial statements
16254888com backindd   80 16254888com backindd   80 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 81
16254 842009 proof 7
company statement of cash flows
for the year ended 31 december 2008
year ended year ended year ended year ended
31 december 31 december 31december 31 december
2008 2008 2007 2007
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
cash flows from operating activities
 loss before income tax 9778 4966
adjustments for
 interest received 2537 5091
share benefit charges 1499 3177
increase in amounts owed by subsidiaries 51853 29394
increasedecrease in other accounts receivables 815 328
increasedecrease in trade payables 23 499
increase in amounts owed to subsidiaries 11179 21977
decrease in other accounts payables 380 1672
cash used generated from operations  51032 16796
tax paid 125 104
net cash generated from operating activities  51157 16900
cash flows from investing activities
 increase in investments in subsidiaries – 119
interest received 2537 5091
acquisition of available for sale assets – 759
dividends received 25628 36205
net cash used in investing activities  28165 40418
cash flows from financing activities
 dividends paid 25628 36205
exercise of market value options 65 –
net cash used in financing activities  25563 36205
net decrease in cash and cash equivalents  48555 12687
cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year  87120 99807
cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year  38565 87120
the notes on pages 82 to 83 form part of these financial statements
16254888com backindd   81 16254888com backindd   81 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 82
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the company financial statements
1 general information and accounting policies
a description of the company its activities and definitions are included in note 1 to the consolidated financial statements
the company has applied accounting policies identical to the group’s accounting policies listed in note 2 to the consolidated financial 
statements other than in relation to investments in its subsidiaries which are held at cost less any impairment provision required
 
under section 102 of the gibraltar consolidated accounts act 1999 the company is exempt from the requirement to present its own 
income statement
2 investments in subsidiaries
the company’s subsidiaries are listed in note 19 to the consolidated financial statements and are held at cost less provision for any 
impairment the group has adopted ifric 11 ‘group and treasury share transactions’ the effect of adopting this is that the parent 
company recognises as a cost of investment the value of its own shares that it makes available for the purpose of granting share options 
to employees or contractors of its subsidiaries this has no impact on the group financial statements and no impact on the prior year 
profit or net assets of the parent company the movement on investment in subsidiaries in both years was in respect of ifric 11 this 
amount was us6892000 in 2008 2007 us4623000
3 trade and other receivables
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
amounts due from subsidiaries  134345 82492
other receivables and prepayments  338 1153
134683 83645
the carrying value of trade and other receivables approximate to their fair value none of the balances included within trade and other 
receivables are past due or impaired amounts due from subsidiaries are payable on demand
4 cash and cash equivalents
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
cash and cash equivalents  38308 86904
restricted cash  257 216
38565 87120
restricted cash primarily relates to deposits held by banks for guarantees
5 share capital
the disclosures in note 17 to the consolidated financial statements are identical for the company
6 financial assets
the disclosures in note 13 to the consolidated financial statements are identical for the company
7 trade and other payables
31 december 31 december
2008 2007
us’000 us’000
trade payables 189 166
amounts due to subsidiaries  163201 152022
corporate tax  175 65
other payables and accrued expenses  3088 3468
166653 155721
the carrying value of trade and other payables approximate to their fair value all balances included within trade and other payables are
repayable on demand
16254888com backindd   82 16254888com backindd   82 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 annual report  accounts 2008 83
16254 842009 proof 7
notes to the company financial statements
8 share capital and reserves
share share availablefor retained
capital premium sale reserve earnings total
us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000 us’000
balance at 1 january 2007 3073 – – 16863 19936
net profit for the year – – – 31157 31157
dividend paid – – – 36205 36205
issue of shares 24 – – 24 –
share benefit charges – – – 7800 7800
valuation losses of availableforsale investments – – 105 – 105
balance at 1 january 2008 3097 – 105 19591 22583
net profit for the year – – – 15615 15615
dividend paid – – – 25628 25628
issue of shares 18 – – 18 –
exercise of market value options – 65 – – 65
share benefit charges – – – 8391 8391
valuation losses of available for sale investments – – 431 – 431
balance at 31 december 2008 3115 65 536 17951 20595
9 financial risk management
the company’s financial risk management objectives and policies are identical to those of the group as disclosed in note 24 to the 
consolidated financial statements
10 contingent liabilities
the disclosures in note 26 to the consolidated financial statements are identical for the company
11 sharebased payment
the disclosures in note 21 to the consolidated financial statements are identical for the company
12 related party transactions
during the year the company received dividends from its subsidiaries totalling us25628000 2007 us36205000 and paid to its 
shareholders dividends totalling us25628000 2007 us36205000 
remuneration paid to directors of the company by its subsidiaries in the year totalled us176000 2007 us427000
share benefit charges in respect of options and shares of the company awarded to employees of subsidiaries totalled us6892000 
2007 us4623000
during the year subsidiaries of the company participated in funding its costs which totalled us8862000 2007 us5690000
at 31 december 2008 net amount owed by the company to its subsidiaries us28856000 2007 us69530000
16254888com backindd   83 16254888com backindd   83 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 84
16254 842009 proof 7
shareholder information
group websites
a range of shareholder information is available in the 
investor relations area of the group’s website 
www888holdingsplccom including
l latest information on the group’s share price
l information on the group’s financial performance
l news and events
the following websites can be also accessed through 
the group’s main web portal www888com or are
available directly
casino
888’s casino games are offered through its casinoonnet 
and reef club casino offerings
l wwwcasinoonnetcom
l wwwreefclubcasinocom
poker
888’s poker offering is through pacific poker
l wwwpacificpokercom
sportsbook
888’s sportsbook offering is through 888sports
l www888sportcom
bingo
888’s bingo offering is through 888ladies
l www888ladiescom
888it 
the group’s sports offering for the italian market 
l www888it
backgammon
888’s backgammon offering is through 888backgammon 
l www888combackgammon
mobile 
888 enables access to mobile platform through 888mobile
l www888mobilecom
betmate 
888 offers access to a betting exchange
l wwwbetmatecom
888tv 
a portal for skill games allowing members to download 
games open accounts and play tournaments
l www888tv
888info 
allows members to practice their gaming skills for fun through 
a number of key casino and poker games 
l www888info
888responsible 
the group’s dedicated site focusing on responsible gaming 
l www888responsiblecom
shareholder services
all enquiries relating to ordinary shares depository interests 
dividends and changes of address should be directed to the 
group’s transfer agent
capita registrars
the registry
34 beckenham road
beckenham
kent
br3 4tu 
tel 0870 162 3100
wwwcapitaregistrarscom
further information
for further information please contact
company secretary
888 holdings public limited company
suite 601701
europort
europort road
gibraltar
info888holdingsplccom
principal bankers
the royal bank of scotland plc
280 bishopsgate
london
ec2m 4rb
solicitors
freshfields bruckhaus deringer
65 fleet street
london
ec4y 1hs
hassans
5763 line wall road
gibraltar
auditors
bdo stoy hayward llp
chartered accountants 
55 baker street
london
w1u 7eu
bdo orion limited
registered auditors
montagu pavilion
8–10 queensway
gibraltar
incorporated in gibraltar with
registered number 90099
16254888com backindd   84 16254888com backindd   84 08042009   1118 08042009   1118 16254 06042009 proof 5 16254 06042009 proof 5
at888comwebelieve
that entertainment is the 
spark that completes 
our lives that after the 
challenges and routine 
that occupies our daily 
lives everyone seeks fun 
and enjoyment    
at 888com we believe that we are the 
home of online gaming entertainment
our primary responsibility is to provide the best 
gaming experience to our customers and the 
best services to our business partners this 
requires the most entertaining innovative and
relevant games and the most exciting and
rewarding entertainment opportunities to win in a
responsible yet fun environment
our strategy is to achieve profitable growth 
through both the acquisition and retention of 
valuable customers by providing our customers 
a differentiated intentional customer experience 
in a safe secure trustworthy and responsible 
environment and by providing our gaming 
services through selected business partners
our goal is to become the leading online gaming 
entertainment and related business services 
company in the world to achieve this we must 
consistently provide our customers with an ideal 
customer experience and our business partners 
with excellent services
ifc highlights
2 group at a glance
3 888 brandspartners brands
4 expanding our offering
6 chairman’s statement
8 ceo’s review
12 enhanced business review
31 corporate social responsibility
33 risk report
34 board of directors
35 corporate governance
38 remuneration report
45 directors’ report
48 independent auditors’ report
50 group income statement
50 group statement of
recognised income and expense
51 group balance sheet
52 group statement of
cash flows
53 notes to the consolidated
financial statements
79 company balance sheet
80 company statement of
recognised income and expense
81 company statement of
cash flows
82 notes to the company
financial statements
84 shareholder information
contents
highlights
16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   2 16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   2 08042009   1110 08042009   1110 16254 06042009 proof 5 16254 06042009 proof 5
annual report  accounts 2008
888 holdings plc
suite 601701 europort
europort road
gibraltar
t 350 20049800
f 350 20048280
e info888holdingsplccom
www888holdingsplccom
 888 holdings plc annual report  accounts 2008
16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   1 16254888comcvr 8mm spineindd   1 08042009   1110 08042009   1110


Summary:
 888 holdings plc www888holdingsplccom 2
16254 08042009 proof 8
group at a glance
888 has made several strategic changes to address 
evolving challenges in the egaming industry the group has 
transformed its business from being a consumer focused 
casino and poker operator into two separate lines of 
business “b2c” and “b2b” each of which has a separate 
mangement structure
888 now offers consumers worldwide all four core b2c 
product offerings casino poker bingo and sportsbetting as
well as live dealer and backgammon we are experiencing 
rapid growth especially in our b2c’s “emerging offering” 
which includes bingo sportsbook live dealer casino and 
backgammon
888 is also developing its b2b business line and is becoming 
a leading provider of technology operations and knowhow 
to business partners using its existing capabilities 888 is 
uniquely positioned to work with carefully selected strategic 
partners who are either aiming to monetise their existing 
database brand loyalty and media assets or looking to 
enhance their existing online gaming operations  
888 has already secured a number of high profile agreements
which highlight both the potential of this strategic direction 
and 888’s unique position as a leading operator offering a full 
service model in the b2b field these include partnerships in 
2007 with riley’s tower torneos and luckyace 2008 has
seen an acceleration in b2b development with several more
deals in western central and eastern europe including 
the groundbreaking partnership with the uk football pools 
sportech plc highlighting the potential for 888 in this area 
the development and growth of the b2b business is an 
integral part of 888’s growth strategy for 2009 and beyond
our strategic changes
b2c b2b
poker
live dealer
backgammon
sport
bingo
casino
payment solutions
crm services
marketing
customer support
software
casino  poker operator
from
to
16254888com frontindd   2 16254888com frontindd   2 08042009   1746 08042009   1746 annual report  accounts 2008 3
16254 08042009 proof 8
com
our brands
our partners’ brands
16254888com frontindd   3 16254888com frontindd   3 08042009   1746 08042009   1746