Ofex-listed Sportingbet.com delivered something of a coup with the acquisition of a Costa Rican counterpart. The hefty £9.5m price tag for Betmaker.com brings with it a further 31,000 customers, the third largest brand name in the US and £100m in turnover for the offshore on-line outfit. With a few low-cost touches, Betmaker also serves as an ideal launch pad into Latin America. Predictions of a bright future for such internet plays have recently been dimmed by the late on-line dash by traditional bookies and established brands. Alex Davies, an analyst at Teather & Greenwood, warns of the perils of the huge step from bricks to clicks, emphasising that high street bookmakers have merely cannibalised their own sales, while failing to capture the culturally different internet savvy customer targeted by Sportingbet. Sportingbet has further demonstrated remarkable advances in geographical and cultural reach, underpinned by crucial tie-ups. A recent deal with Singinvests will see Sportingbet promote its services to their internet and telephone customers in its Far Eastern markets. Lingering doubts about the legal fragility of on-line betting companies servicing the US market are dismissed by Davies who interprets this as 'a growth driver in that territory', since pending legislation can only apply to US-based and registered competitors.