PartyGaming agrees first US return deal
Posted by Chloe Flint on 28 Aug 2009 at 15:08
Online gambling company PartyGaming has bought most of the business of World Poker Tour Enterprises in its first American deal since it withdrew from the country three years ago.
PartyGaming left America in 2006 after gambling on the internet was banned there.
But in April this year it settled with the US authorities by paying a $105 million penalty as it planned to return to America.
At the time the chief executive of PartyGaming, Jim Ryan said the agreement allowed the company to consider "organic as well as strategic opportunities that previously were beyond our reach".
World Poker Tour, often referred to as WPT, was one of the biggest names in American poker earlier in the decade and was at the heart of the world boom in the game.
But interest in the brand has declined recently and its televised tournaments have attracted smaller audiences.
Even some of its biggest tournaments are seeing player numbers drop by as much as 25 per cent.
Quoted by the Times, a PartyGaming company spokesman said: "We would have bought WPT regardless of what country it is based in because it's a globally recognised brand."
The paper added PartyGaming is paying $12.3 million up front and has signed up to a minimum aggregate payment of $3 million dollars over three years as part of a revenue sharing agreement.
The overall price was higher than that of a private investment group which offered $9 million a month ago.
Quoted by the Times, the chief executive of WPTE, Steve Lipscomb, said: "We look forward to working with one of the pioneers and leaders in the poker and online gaming markets to provide a strong vehicle for the WPT brand to continue its global expansion and return to online gaming.”
