You can obviously win (or lose) money playing craps, roulette, slots or blackjack online- but we also like to have a punt on the stock market every now and then. And occasionally, we like to combine both hobbies and have a punt on gaming shares. So here´s some news for all you budding Web Warren Buffets.
It seems that Party Gaming have been holding a big bunch of Mistletoe above Bwin in the hope of giving Bwin a good sloppy lick on the cheek and making an Online Gaming Gorilla with a mega merger. Investors in Party Gaming, the Gibraltar based casino-poker-bingo group that is listed on the London Stock Market, are starting to squirm and get ever so excited at the prospect of this tie up for it will no doubt be accompanied with a healthy dose of share price movement..hopefully north.
These 2 companies are the big boys in the playground and if they pull it off it will create a new leader in the industry valued at up to £2 billion.
Party Gaming shares tanked 3 years ago, following their snap decision to exit the USA gambling market after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA for all you FLA fans) went through the House of Representatives on a technicality (it was pasted onto an act about ports, go figure as they say in the movies).
In 2009, Party Gaming reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice and agreed to cough up $105 million over a period of 4 years for being naughty boys and girls.
As part of the deal, Party ‘admitted’ that it had targeted US citizens and offered them betting services that were “contrary to certain US laws”. Tut tut.
Once this dispute with Uncle Sam had been swept under the carpet, it removed a stain that had been blemishing the companies record sheet for a while and it was then able to explore mergers with other companies.
Party Gaming shares are expected to significantly increase in value if the merger happens, so if you fancy a punt- buy some shares! Or buy into Bwin which is listed in Vienna.
BWin is talking this merger down much like Tiger Woods did when he drove into a fire hydrant by mistake, so we reckon there could be something in the rumours.
Bwin called off talks with Sportingbet in 2007, its London sports betting rival. Then in September 2009, the company snapped up Gioco Digitale, the Italian poker room, for 115 million big ones of the euro variety.
The PartyGaming chief executive is hoping that the Obama Administration will take steps to regulate the US market, which will leave the company in an even stronger position.
In the good ol´ days PartyGaming was the world’s biggest online poker company and in the FTSE 100. It floated in 2005 netting the founders hundreds of millions.
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which both still take bets from American players, have now overtaken the company thanks tho the greater “liquidity” they get from the bigger (in wallet size anyway) US players.
PartyGaming is worth about £1 billion, while you´d need around £1.2 billion to buy Bwin.
Party Gaming Who´s Who: The Cast List:
It doesn´t come more colourful than Party Gaming! The four original Musketeers were:
Vikrant Bhargava, the marketing guru , Mr DikShit, IT man, and husband-and-wife team Russ de Leon and Ruth Parasol (of telephone sex line heavy breathing fame).
Señor Dikshit has come to an agreement with the Department of Justice in the US (DOJ), and paid $300m after pleading guilty last December to an online gambling charge. He flogged most of his remaining 28% stake in PartyGaming in October and is now out of the game and out of the door with his chips.
The current players are:
You couldn´t make it up! We want to know when the book and film rights are going to be sold- That´ll be where the real money is…..
