A SETBACK in the attempt of an American senator to restrict internet gambling and positive sentiment from the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas triggered a rebound in online gaming stocks.

The sector has sold off sharply this week, hurt by the lower than expected pricing of the initial public offering of 888 and the efforts of Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, to attach his anti-gaming bill to an annual spending bill on its passage through the US Senate. But with that move blocked yesterday after Democrat opposition, gambling stocks bounced, drawing additional momentum from hopes that G2E — a forum attended by US fund managers as well as brokers — will fuel renewed buying interest. Sportingbet rose 31p to 319½p, with PartyGaming up 4¾p to 104¾p, Empire Online 19½p dearer at 251½p, FireOne Group 18½p better at 418½p and NETeller 40p stronger at 830½p. BetonSports, up 16p to 161p, also prospered, with Evolution Securities repeating its “buy” advice and 195p target before Tuesday’s first-half figures. The FTSE 250 rose 3.5 points to 7,866.6.

Fallout from their FTSE 100 peers weighed on a number of second-liners, with catalogue retailer N Brown off 7¾p at 157p on weak interims from Next, and Topps Tiles, 6¼p lighter at 176¾p, as Kingfisher complained of tough trading. But Omega International, the AIM-listed kitchen supplier, rose 17½p to 157½p as first-half figures reassured.

TT Electronics firmed ¾p to 168p as Bridgewell Securities advised a switch from First Technology, off 1¾p at 173½p. Leadcom Integrated Solutions, the Israeli telecoms services group floated at 32p in April, eased 1½p to 51p as Corporate Synergy, the housebroker, placed 8.3 million shares, or 8.8 per cent, on behalf of former executives at 48p.

SectorGuard held steady at 3¾p on the £1.77 million purchase of Asset Protection, a specialist in retail security tagging. Offshore Hyrdocarbon Mapping, the University of Southampton spin-off in a patent dispute with Statoil, fell 22½p to 70p as the Patent Office awarded £120,000 costs to the Norwegian company

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