Just released was a short news release by the CE of P of both PartyGaming (Party Poker) and 888 Holdings (Pacific Poker) to return to the US online gambling market. Effective immediately after the UIGEA will become law and the Federal Reserve will announce final guidelines for a bill to stop online gaming in the US for un-licensed operators will be the same day both European giants are said to be re-entering the US market, June 1, 2010.
This would allow ALL online poker players in the United States to once again play at the poker sites. It is not clear at this moment what sort of funding options will be available to players from the US but it is being rumored they will have fully functioning credit card processing due to their past compliance with US law, and fines paid.
The owner of Compatible Poker had this to say about the situation.
“We knew the day would eventually come. It has made no sense why both Party Poker and Pacific Poker were co-operating with the US Department of Justice, but now we finally know!”
It is unclear what is provoking both giants to merge and once again accept players from the United States. There is speculation that they will branch off and form their own poker room and use the database of players that have signed up for play money in the past 3 years. The US player database is said to be in the 10′s of millions due to ever-popular brand awareness of their play money games. See image for trends in Party Poker related Google searches, which result in player signups.
This would give an immediate surge to the online gaming giants check books but would not change the price of the stock. Because they will form a separate entity poker room, their accrued revenues will not affect their non-US operational sides.
While we are waiting a full statement from both companies, the brief press release can be read here. Also, here is the official statement from Party Poker and 888.
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