Super Euro Online Poker
Introduction
News coming in this week indicates that a super Euro online poker consortium could shortly be realized and that just could be good news for online poker players in the USA as well as Europe.
Partying whilst gaming
One of the top UK based internet poker companies, PartyGaming who own the PartyPoker website, has been in talks for some time with the Austrian online betting firm Bwin about a potential merger, worth some $3 billion. Although these talks haven’t been exclusive, with PartyGaming looking to also merge with other online gambling operations, the potential for a partnership with Bwin is looking the strongest. The talks must be going well as over the week-end PartyGaming shares rose 6% on the London Stock Exchange.
PartyGaming and the WPT
Why not have a party whilst playing poker?
Still not interested? Still think – big deal this is a European thing? Well perhaps you don’t quite fully understand exactly how influential PartyGaming is in the world of poker, let alone online poker. In it’s quest to acquire other online gambling and poker websites, last July it took over Cashcade, for a mere $170 million, who owned the popular Foxy Bingo website. However, not content with that in November they also acquired for a relative song the WPT Enterprise assets – yes, which means they are now in effect the organizers of the World Poker Tour. Prior to the WPT acquisition PartyPoker had upwards of 80 million players a day and, beyond doubt, the acquisition of WPT signals their intent to increase their stakes (like it eh?) in the American online poker business.
PartyGaming and PartyPoker back in the USA?
PartyGaming, or more importantly PartyPoker, was a player (like it again eh?) in the US online poker business until a crackdown by US authorities in 2006. One thought at present is that the merger with Bwin would give them the financial leverage to talk to the US authorities about a return to the USA and its lucrative online poker market – tying in with established US media companies looking for gaming offshoots