Webis Holdings PLC (LON:WEB) rocketed 43% to 1.68p as its US betting subsidiary WatchandWager.com received a licence from the New York State Gaming Commission.
The business can now accept money and bets from New York State residents and in time for the prestigious Belmont Stakes on 10 June. The licence will be renewable annually.
WatchandWager now has licences in California and New York, something no other online bookmaker has achieved, it said.
Online betting in the two states is worth around US$1bn a year, suggests Webis, with California and New York accounting for 40% of that.
The acquisition of more licences is key to the development of its B2C retail operation via the watchandwager.com/mobile site, Webis added.
WatchandWager President Ed Comins said. "The expansion of our licenses to include New York means that WatchandWager is now available to our players in the two most populous States that allow Advance Deposit Wagering.”
7Digital Group PLC (LON:7DIG) rose 11% to 6.24p as it said the acquisition of 24-7 Entertainment will be completed within the next two weeks.
24-7 is 7Digital’s only significant European competitor it says and will add its owner MediaMarktSaturn, Europe’s largest consumer electronics retailer, to its customer base.
Shares rose 11% to 6.24p.
Bango plc (LON:BGO) rose 8% to 137.6p as it enabled a new payment method for customers of global online retail behemoth Amazon.
Amazon customers with a KDDI or NTT DOCOMO mobile phone account can now pay for physical goods from Amazon.jp by simply adding the cost of the goods to their mobile phone bill with no need to add credit or debit card to an online account.
Clontarf Energy doubles up on licence award
Clontarf Energy PLC (LON:CLON) doubled in value as it was awarded the offshore Block 18 (EG-18) in the Equatorial Guinea 2017 bidding round.
David Horgan a director at Clontarf said it was huge coup for the oil independent.
"Until the 2017 Bid Round, Equatorial Guinea was largely perceived as the bailiwick of US majors and Chinese National Oil Corporations.
"For the first time, the 2017 Bid Round sought new ideas and fresh approaches from the diverse community of oil independents, who have delivered so much elsewhere in West Africa".
The block covers more 5,000 sq km of undrilled deep water acreage with several play types and the focus will be on large structural and/or stratigraphic trap targets, Clontarf said.
The company will have a 70% production interest, 65% oil cost recovery, a $150,000 signature bonus, standard commerciality and production bonuses and normal land taxes.
Production royalty is a standard 13%, rising to 16% over 100,000 barrels of oil daily with profits tax at 35%.
The initial work programme is 3 years that includes seismic acquisition and one well with possible extensions.
"Clontarf has long been interested in Equatorial Guinea's deep-water potential, which is among some of the most prospective in West Africa," Horgan added.
"EG-18 is part of the Northern Rio Muni Basin, which Clontarf has analysed. Our initial interest is in diverse Cretaceous sands plays, particularly a distal fan and turbidite channels visible on historic seismic."
Shares rose 0.36p to 0.7p.
88 Energy Limited (LON:88E ASX:88E) is preparing for the artificial stimulation or fracking of its Icewine#2 well in Alaska and flow testing after successfully completing log analysis.
The AIM and Aussie isted explorer said it no longer needs to carry out micro stimulation after gaining enough insights in to the stress profile and pore pressure of the HRZ shale, which appears higher than previously expected. Shares rose 7% to 3.37p.
Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON: BMN) has agreed a restructuring of the bridge loan it took out to complete the acquisition of a 78.8% stake in Strategic Minerals Corporation, which transformed it into a "significant player in the global vanadium market". Shares rose 10% to 9.25p, making it a near 400% rise this year for the mining junior.
Oilex leads the fallers
Oilex Ltd (LON:OEX) shares tumbled by almost a third as the India–focused gas group reported that workovers at two wells on the Cambay field had not brought much joy.
Tests on C-70 and C-23z showed respectively small volumes of both oil and gas but no sustained flow and no hydrocarbons at all. Shares fell 32% to 0.183p.
Forbidden Technologies plc (LON:FBT) was also under pressure as it warned its move into the live broadcast market versus the traditional video/ broadcast has seen slower results than expected
“While this pipeline has larger deals sizes than before we are currently experiencing a slower conversion rate than we had expected.”
More encouragingly, it said sales should rise through larger deals with longer terms than we have historically signed, but the shares slumped 20% to 5p.
Rose Petroleum PLC (LON:ROSE) dropped 14% to 0.112p as revenues dropped to US$0.9mln, down from US$4.3mln a year earlier, with the decrease primarily the result of the ending of production from the Mina Charay gold and silver project, which ceased in December 2015.
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A strong second half brought full-year results in slightly ahead of expectations at customised electronics specialist Acal Plc (LON:ACL).
WYG PLC (LON:WYG) has unveiled a changing of the guard, with a new chief executive officer and chairman appointed at the project management and technical consultancy as it reported solid growth in adjusted full-year profits despite contract delays due to the UK general election.
Myanmar–focused social media and mobile group MySQUAR PLC (LON:MYSQ) has boosted its daily revenue by 40% over the past month to US$7,000. Eric Schaer, chief executive, said revenues were growing steadily as its online games become more popular.
88 Energy Limited (LON:88E ASX:88E) is preparing for the artificial stimulation or fracking of its Icewine#2 well in Alaska and flow testing after successful completing log analysis. The company said it no longer needs to carry out micro stimulation after gaining enough insights in to the stress profile and pore pressure of the HRZ shale, which appears higher than previously expected.
Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON: BMN) has agreed a restructuring of the bridge loan it took out to complete the acquisition of a 78.8% stake in Strategic Minerals Corporation, which transformed it into a "significant player in the global vanadium market".
Niche lender Private & Commercial Finance Group plc (LON:PCF) saw strong organic growth in the first half of its financial year, despite the company preparing for the launch of its banking arm.
The boss of KEFI Minerals plc (LON: KEFI), the gold exploration and development company with projects Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, said the firm has a “well-positioned foundation, great growth prospects” and is “confident of delivering shareholder value."
Bango plc (LON:BGO) has enabled a new payment method via the two biggest Japanese mobile phone networks for customers of global online retail behemoth Amazon.