PartyGaming gets record number of new poker players

PartyGaming gets record number of new poker players

	Published : Sat, 28 Jan 2006 17:05 By : Amy Watts Print this Story

LONDON: Online casino operator PartyGaming Plc. said it has registered a record number of new poker players on the site in the fourth quarter and is all set to become the No 1 global online casino. Its PartyPoker website signed up 229,000 new players, more than one-third of them from outside the United States.

The company has been trying to cut down on its dependency on the U.S. as there are several legal restrictions prevailing in the country on gambling business.

PartyGaming's group sales grew 65 per cent to $320 million in the fourth quarter. Much of the boosting has been as a result of the company cross-selling blackjack to its PartyPoker players.

Chief executive Richard Segal said the success of blackjack has transformed the company's casino business. "Through effective cross-selling to our large customer base we are well on the way to creating the world's largest online casino," he said.

Segal said the company will launch its fully integrated betting platform during the first half of this year, followed by new games and a multi-lingual and multi-currency gambling platform towards the end of the year.

An average poker player spent $17.9 per day, up 8 per cent on the quarter. Casino revenues grew to $82.3 million from $11 million in the prior year, with 44 per cent of active poker players having also played blackjack.

PartyGaming is facing a legal suit by rival Empire Online, a "skin" that directs players to gambling sites, after PartyGaming moved its own players to a different platform. Empire Online claimed it had suffered losses as a result of PartyGaming ending the partnership.

PartyGaming shares, were however, down 2.75 per cent at 141-1/2 pence, mainly because of profit-taking.

Analysts tended to upgrade PartyGaming's earnings forecasts. House broker Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said it is to lift the company's earnings per share forecasts for 2005 and 2006 by 1.8 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.