PartyGaming says settlement gives it advantage

[The Buzz]

PartyGaming has been quite busy the last couple of months. The gaming giant paid £72m to purchase online bingo website Cashcade in July, and this month it paid £12.3m for the World Poker Tour.

PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan said that the company's $105 million settlement with the U.S. government has given it an advantage in the competitive online gaming market.

From Gambling911:

Mr Ryan said while Party Gaming was "not in a race" with rivals for acquisitions, the group's painstaking negotiations with the DoJ have left it well placed to push on with M&A deals. "We believe we have a strategic advantage," he said. "It took two years and discussions over 200,000 documents to reach a settlement. This is not a quick process. One does not will your way to it."

[JonOfFinsbury]

I think that specifically in terms of a regulated US environment open to foreign operators, Jim Ryan is right to say that Party has an advantage. But the wider question is whether the US will actually be open to foreign operators if/when it does liberalise.

My personal view is that it won't be - like many countries, the US talks the talk on free trade but is protectionist regarding its own markets. That's also the view of 888's Gigi Levy, among others: http://www.egrmagazine.com/news/indu...ostuigea.thtml

[Anthony]

I don't think Party Gaming would have wrote such a big check without feeling it gave them some kind of advantage. They are not going to do something for nothing. Just my opinion.