Carmen Media likes the lay of the land

Carmen Media, the Gibraltar-based online gaming giant, is planning to move into land-based gaming.
Carmen is currently experimenting with small-scale poker tutorials and branded poker equipment, but it is believed to be considering much larger opportunities.

“We are looking at land-based opportunities,” Tim Johnson, chief executive of Carmen Media, said.

“We haven’t got a specific timeframe in mind but it makes sense to have a wide range of products on offer,” he added.

Johnson began his career running a chain of bookmaker shops in the UK, and a move into the bricks and mortar sector would be a logical step for the Gaming Club Sportsbook.

Blue Square and Victor Chandler have both made moves into shops on the UK high street, and ukbetting recently bought a chain of bookmaking shops in 2004.

And Johnson said he believes there is increasing crossover between the online and land-based sectors.

“The land-based business is watching the internet business very closely and vice versa and the two businesses will come together at some point,” Johnson said.