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Party
Gaming CEO Discusses Future of Online Poker, by
Earl Burton - 6th January 2009
(Credit:
Poker News Daily)
The recent news in December of
Party Gaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit’s
plea bargain with the U.S. Department of Justice
thrust the company back into the spotlight. Now,
in a December 28th interview with Financial Times,
new Chief Executive Officer Jim Ryan has announced
his plans for returning the company to the lofty
perch it once held.
The
article, written by Roger Blitz, points out that
it has been a very difficult couple of years for
the one-time monolith in the online poker world.
After its initial public offering (IPO) on the
London Stock Exchange in 2005, Party Gaming was
valued at almost £5 billion. Since the departure
of U.S. players due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006 and the subsequent
decision by then-CEO Mitch Garber to withdraw
from the market, Party Gaming’s value has
fallen to under £1 billion. However, as
Blitz states, there could be “a light at
the end of what has been a long, dark tunnel”
for Party Gaming.
The
light that Blitz refers to is the mid-December
decision by Dikshit to succumb to Department of
Justice pressures and plead guilty to violations
of the Wire Act of 1961. In submitting his guilty
plea, Dikshit paid a $300 million fine and could
face a two year jail term, although sentencing
will not occur until 2010. He continues to assist
the United States Government in its investigations
into online gaming.
In
the article, Ryan - who took over for Gerber in
June of 2008 - states that Party Gaming is currently
in discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice
regarding the company’s liabilities, but
wouldn’t go into great detail. The article
did discuss that the shares of Party Gaming on
the London Exchange have grown to 200 pence each
and that a deal with the U.S. government is looming
sometime this month.
When
asked about the future of the company, Ryan was
upbeat about Party Gaming’s abilities in
not only online poker, but also in a realm of
online gaming options. “This is a marathon,
not a sprint,” Ryan is quoted as saying
in the Financial Times article by Blitz. “We
have been chasing quarterly profits, but the market
has become so competitive, you’ve got to
know where you’re going. We’re not
so much slowing down, but keeping ourselves focused.”
The
three year plan that Ryan has set for Party Gaming
is something that he believes that other online
gaming companies want to do, but his company already
does. The Financial Times quotes Ryan as saying
that the company, since its exodus from the U.S.
market, has built a complete gaming operation
that is focused on all aspects of the online world,
including poker, casino, sports betting, bingo,
and backgammon. “[We offer] different products
with one back office platform,” he explains
in Blitz’s article. “One deposit,
one account – it’s a one stop shop.
That is still the main strategic objective for
a number of our competitors and we have it already.”
Ryan
also states that he sees a day when the online
gaming world will be vastly different than what
is out there today. While poker remains the focus
of Party Gaming, Ryan sees over the next three
years that there will only be five online poker
operators of any consequence. Party Gaming at
this time ranks fourth in that equation - something
that “hurts,” according to Ryan -
but his quote in the Financial Times piece looms
large: “We need to retake the hill and position
ourselves to be that leader again.”
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