500.com acquires Chinese mobile social poker operator

Chinese online sports lottery operator 500.com has taken a controlling stake in a social poker business in an attempt to diversify its currently non-existent revenue stream.

On Friday, 500.com announced that it had taken a 51% stake in Qufan Internet Technology Inc. and Shenzhen Qufan Internet Technology Co. Ltd, which collectively operate a mobile social poker platform.

500.com says the transaction, which will cost RMB 110.5m (US $16m), is subject to certain unspecified conditions. The company didn’t offer any guidance for what type of boost this acquisition might provide to 500.com’s bottom line.

The Nasdaq-listed 500.com is desperate to show investors some capacity to generate revenue, having now gone six straight quarters without a single penny from online lottery operations following Beijing’s March 2015 decision to ‘temporarily’ suspend online sales after uncovering widespread fraud by provincial lottery administrators.