PartyGaming bets it can become world No 1

Published on Friday 6 August 2010 14:46

INTERNET betting firm PartyGaming is to press on with deal-making after its tie-up with Austria's Bwin to create the world's biggest online gaming company.

The company said it would "continue playing an active role" in the consolidation of the sector after the completion of the deal early next year.

PartyGaming raised revenues by 30 per cent to €181.2 million (150.2m) in the first half of 2010, boosted by acquisitions, including the Cashcade bingo business, and improved casino and sports betting takings.

The company is pushing into newly regulated territories such as France, where online gaming licences for sports betting and poker were issued for the first time in June. Denmark is also planning to open up its online gaming market early next year.

Spain, Greece and Belgium have been linked with similar proposals, though the big prize remains a return to the US for the first time since 2006, when legislation prevented the transfer of funds to gambling sites.

Two US senators are pushing for the regulation and licensing of online gambling in the US, which they estimate could raise $42bn over ten years.

PartyGaming hopes for a breakthrough but said further progress could be limited until after the US mid-term elections.

Its origins were in poker through the Party Poker website, but it pulled out of the US in 2006 and had to make up for declining poker business with other games. Poker accounts for about a third of revenues.