Floating Party -- PartyGaming, operator of PartyPoker.com, has announced after many months of speculation that it will indeed float on the London Stock Exchange later this month. With a probable offering of US$1.8 billion (23 percent of its shares), which would value the company somewhere between $8 and $ 10 billion, the float is destined to be London's largest in four years and will no doubt put the company in the FTSE 100 share index. The company is widely believed to possess more than 55 percent of the online poker market, and it recently reported revenues of $222 million for the first quarter of 2005--an increase of 93 percent over the previous year. Operating profit increased 81 percent to $128 million for the quarter. PartyGaming says the money raised through its initial public offering will primarily be used to pursue acquisitions of other companies that are either involved in online gambling or could drive traffic to its sites. The 40 percent holding of the company's largest shareholder, Anurag Dikshit, should be worth about $3 billion after the float. Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is coordinating and bookrunning the IPO, the roadshow for which will not visit the United States.
PartyGaming was to hold a conference call for trade journalists today, but has postponed the call because its spokespeople have "received a lot of interest today and are running very behind."
Happy Birthday -- Betfair celebrates its fifth birthday this weekend. The Oaks was the first race the company ever covered, so to celebrate the company will offer free commission to punters participating in Oaks markets. Betfair will also make a donation equal to the amount of commission it would have received on Oaks markets to Racing Welfare, the company's charity of the year.
Tote Sale Delay -- The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into the British government's sale of the Tote to determine whether the sale constitutes illegal "state aid." At issue is the question of whether the government is placing a value that is too low on the pools betting monopoly. While previous statement by Tote officials have indicated that a price somewhere between £150 million and £200 million is probable, that figure is believed by many experts to be quite low. Neelie Kroes, the EC's competition commissioner, stated, "I fully support the British government's objective of opening up the UK gambling market, but I am not convinced that the way in which this is carried out, by selling the Tote to the racing consortium well below market value, is necessary or proportionate to achieving this objective. Such a measure could distort competition in the betting market." The investigation will delay the sale of the Tote--a process that began in 1999 and has already faced several other delays--by at least several month, and possibly as long as another two years.
Poker Beat -- Full Tilt Poker has redesigned its Web site to include streamlined navigation and new content, including updated biographies for the members of Team Full Tilt, which includes Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman and others. The site is running ads featuring Chris Ferguson on television networks in the United States and is offering a 100 percent match bonus up to $600 to new customers. . . . A company called Poker Robot LLC will hold a 72-hour tournament to find the best of six poker-playing robots. Dubbed the "World Series of Poker Robots," the event will take place July 12-15 (while the human version of the WSOP is also taking place). Online gaming company GoldenPalace.net will provide the $100,000 grand prize and is sponsoring the tournament alongside poker software developer Fireswirl Technologies. Poker Robot LLC says the winner of the World Series of Poker Robots will challenge the winner of the human WSOP to a head-to-head showdown. . . . Party Poker, Ultimate Bet, PokerRoom, Absolute Poker and Golden Palace Poker have announced that their sites will participate in the Online Series of Poker, a tournament that will be held across all five poker sites. Each site will host two tournaments, and the winner of each will not only receive the prize money from that tournament but also qualify for the final table event on Oct. 8 at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort in Atlantic City. . . . World Poker Tour Enterprises has signed six new licensing agreements that will result in a plethora of new WPT-branded merchandise. Shell Auto Expressions will produce WPT-branded care accessories, including air fresheners, floor mats, seat covers, seat cushions, sun shades and steering wheel covers MZ Berger will produce WPT digital poker-game-play wrist watches, wall clocks, decorative table-top clocks and alarm clocks. Frankford Candy will produce WPT-themed candies and gift sets, Zippo will produce four WPT-themed lighter designs. Hot Properties! Merchandising, Inc will produce magnets, memo pad magnets, magnetic bottle openers, buttons, stickers, lapel pins, antenna toppers, key chains, coasters and tee shakers. Pacific Direct will produce a talking bottle opener that plays WPT sound bites whenever the opener touches a bottle cap.