Large Online Gambling
Firms in Merger Talks
 May
20 -
Recent reports have emerged that
one of the world's largest online gambling firms,
PartyGaming Plc
and its smaller rival GigaMedia Limited,
are in talks that could result in a merger between the
companies,
resulting in one of the globe's most powerful online gambling
concerns.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Gibraltar-based
PartyGaming is best known for its popular online poker room,
PartyPoker,
which prior to the U.S. online gambling ban in October of 2006,
was the most popular poker destination on the internet.
In 2008 PartyGaming generated revenues of over $470 million.
Listed on NASDAQ, Taiwan-based
GigaMedia
has a reputation for being a leading online entertainment
software and services concern,
specialising in online arcade games as well as top online casino
games.
It owns and operates Everest Poker, a popular online poker room
that
attracts poker players from all over the world.
Currently bitter rivals,
if PartyGaming Plc and GigaMedia Limited were indeed to merge,
it would be of particular benefit to PartyGaming, because in one
fell swoop it would be able to
integrate the highly successful Everest Poker into its existing
portfolio of online gambling websites,
and thus grow the PartyGaming enterprise.
While it is still too early to speculate as to whether the
merger, or indeed any merger, will occur,
online gambling industry insiders are watching the proceedings
very carefully.
PartyGaming made the headlines recently when it agreed to pay
the U.S. government
$105 million in restitution
for contravening U.S. gambling laws.
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