Heralding the rebranding, which has been extended to all 31 centres, Praesepe AGC division MD, Jonathon Hughes commented: "It's a very striking, high impact design which gives us an extremely strong presence on the high street. Cashino is a great name for our brand of low stake, high volume, fun and secure adult gaming."

Expanding on the response to the change in ownership and identity, Praesepe CEO Nick Harding added: "I have been heartened by the response from both customers and our customer-facing staff. The team we have inherited from Jon Shipley is without doubt the best any of us in the senior management team at Praesepe has ever worked with. We are delighted that the Government is reviewing stakes and prizes for Category C machines, which represent the majority of equipment we operate in our centres."

Neil Meredith, who led the KPMG Corporate Finance advisory team that acted for Jon Shipley, said: "This transaction represents the first sign of M & A activity in the sector since the Gambling Act." He continued: "Our specialist team remains committed to this sector and we expect to see increasing levels of activity over the next 12 months as exit plans that have been delayed are now revisited."

Prasepe has already announced a pan-European strategy to create through acquisition a leading UK/EU low stake high volume gaming group with earnings of £50m by 2010. It is intended that the portfolio will incorporate slots, sports/pool betting, bingo and online gaming operations with key target markets including the UK, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Germany.

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