PartyGaming And Bwin To Merge?
December 15th, 2009 | 
Author: PartyGaming is in merger talks with Bwin, largest out of all online bookies, in a deal that could create a £2 billion online gaming monster. The two groups have been holding negotiations since the summer.
The USA was PartyGaming’s biggest market, accounting for nearly 90% of its revenues, but the company suffered a huge setback when America made internet gambling illegal. Online gaming groups including PartyGaming had to close their American operations and lost considerable amounts of revenue.
Rumors about consolidation in the online gaming sector has been the major topic for discussion recently. A tie-up between PartyGaming and Bwin would be logical given the former’s ambition to grow its presence in sports betting, an area where the Austrian online betting site has been leading the way for last several years.
PartyGaming is well known for offering poker and casino games. It seems likely that if the two businesses can agree a tie-up, the deal would be structured as a merger of equals.
One source cautioned that discussions were at an early stage and there was no clear signal that a deal would be agreed. “Everyone in the industry is talking to everybody else,” said the source.
In April of this year, PartyGaming agreed a settlement with America’s Department of Justice to make sure that it would not face prosecution over its activities in the United States. It agreed to pay 5m (£65m) as part of the deal.
Analysts say that gambling groups including 888 Holdings and Sportingbet as well as Sweden’s Unibet, have all been thinking about possible deals.
Latest EGR Awards show crowned online sportsbook Bwin as the Operator of the Year while PartyPoker received Poker Operator of the Year title. EGR Power 50 also acknowledged domination of these two online gaming giants putting Bwin on the top of the rating for the second year in a row and PartyGaming right behind it.
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