888 Holdings released a report yesterday stating that trading has continued in line with management's expectations, underpinned by stronger than expected current trading and that the Board remains confident about the Group's prospects for the full year.

The trading update is more good news from the online gaming company, which has enjoyed a surprisingly good year after withdrawing from the US market following the UIGEA last year.

888 Holdings owns the highly popular Casino-on-Net 888 and Pacific Poker brands. As such a high percentage of their customer base was derived from the US market, many analysts tipped 888 would suffer badly this year along with PartyGaming, a company in a similar situation.

But whilst PartyGaming has struggled in 2007, 888 continues to march onwards and upwards. Following yesterday's update, analysts are selling 888's prospects for 2008.

Hemscott.com reports that Numis Securities analyst Richard Carter reiterated its 'buy' recommendation and 174 target price, leaving his top-of-the-range 2007 pretax profit forecast of $44.3 million unchanged.

'With the regulatory landscape getting clearer, we think, the group's current valuation is unjustified given the level of cash generation and growth,' Carter was quoted as saying.

Numis has forecasted a pretax profit of $63.2 million for 2008 and $76.4 million for 2009.

Numis may indeed have their predictions spot on. Big plans are afoot at 888, with a recent announcement 888 will be entering the sports betting market with a Rank Blue Square deal.

888 is also getting heavily involved in the white-label market, recently creating online gaming platforms for Tower Torneos, Rileys and Kamay.

Despite the good news, shares in 888 (LSE: 888) dropped off slightly, closing at 128p overnight.