Party Poker to be Bought Out by Vegas Casinos?
Written by Renee K | Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Mitch Garber, the CEO of PartyGaming owners of Party Poker, Party Casino, Party Bets, Party Gammon and Party Bingo have announced they could possibly be up for sale.
The news hit at the CAP Conference in Barcelona where Mitch Garber said they are welcoming a buy-out from US land based casinos.
After the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act was pursued and passed PartyGaming lost much of its revenues. Despite this instant crippling effect, PartyGaming says they have bounced back by integrating their platforms into multi-lingual software and marketing to the UK and non-United States countries.
The company could be up for grabs because of the new value. Once valued at $10 billion it now sits at $2.5 billion, perfect for a US Casino to come in and gobble it up.
Those involved in conspiracies believe this was the plot all along. Get someone like Bill Frist, the Senator who passed the UIGEA to crippled the online gaming companies, have US casinos buy them when the price is right, then finally legalize online gambling. It should also be noted that Harrah’s was a financial contributor to Bill Frist before the UIGEA was passed.
While this leads many to feel they’ve been duped it could be nothing more than smart business practices. Harrah’s could have been all for backing the US ban simply to decrease the barrier of entrance into the European and Asian markets. With US land based casinos having such large monetary backing it would be easier for them to cruise into emerging markets.
A non-US buyer was speculated to be Pacificpoker but no further commenting on this has come forth. 888 is keeping quiet on the subject after their failed attempt to merge with Ladbrokes.
Google trends continues to show Partygaming brands decline in “visitor search” counts. This is likely due to the loss in US markets. Their poker competitor, Full Tilt Poker is now searched almost just as much as they are.
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
