PartyGaming performance mixed ahead of merger

Sailing smoothly along its path to merge with Austrian online betting powerhouse bwin, Gibraltar-based PartyGaming has reported some positive and not-so-positive financial numbers recently.
Summing up its 2010 performance, the company recently reported “a rise in full year underlying earnings” from €94 million in 2009 to €100 million last year, the Economic Times reports.
“Revenues were 15 percent higher at 357 million euros, with a soft performance in its poker operations such as PartyPoker.com offset by strong growth in its casino and sports betting,” the report continues.
The numbers are in line with the company’s recent trend of growing bingo popularity and struggling poker revenues: “In total, PartyCasino revenue rose to €151.4m in 2010 from €136.3m a year earlier, while PartyBingo had risen to €51.4m from €22.8m in 2009 and Sports Betting reached €20.8m from €13.2m,” explains OnlinePoker.net.
U.S. market entry the likely solution
“However, PartyPoker’s revenue continued to decline in the midst of strong competition from U.S.-facing operators like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker,” PokerNewsDaily.com chimes in. “Revenues from PartyPoker fell from €136.8 million ($190.5 million) to €124.8 million ($173.8 million), with Party Gaming CEO Jim Ryan blaming the 9% slide on the company’s absence from the U.S. market since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006.”
That might not be a problem much longer. Ryan has emphasized his company’s desire to re-enter the U.S. market, and the company has made several significant moves in that direction.
“PartyGaming’s management is clearly sore that some private operators continue to accept US customers, and hope that those operators who played by the rules will be favoured if legislation is introduced,” reports financial investment website the Motley Fool UK. “Ownership of the World Poker Tour televised poker brand gives the company potentially high visibility in the US market.”
The Motley Fool article also features a helpful summary of PartyGaming’s market position and expectations; check it out here.