Tranzactii in lumea pokerului

[Darth]

Mda, am citit acu cateva zile...sper sa nu schimbe ceva in rau :/

[sever]

http://letsbuypokerstars.com/index.html

[Darth]

De unde pot sa cumpar shares online? Pt ca chiar vreau sa iau la pokerstars

[sever]

Poker Wars
by Adam Woods

The web is providing a lucrative playing field for poker
operators as the sector picks up more players by the day.

Paul Newman coined one of poker's great maxims: "If you look
around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you." Given
that online poker's revenues grew from $92m (£47.7m) in 2002 to more
than $1bn (£0.54bn) last year, according to Christiansen Capital
Advisors, it's unlikely that the leading poker site operators feel like
the sucker at any table.

Online poker sees real people play against each other for real
stakes. It might not offer the same psychological challenge as a
face-to-face game, but it's faster, less intimidating for beginners
and, in the words of Ongame chief executive Patrik Selin, "you don't
have to call up 10 friends and get them over to your house on a Tuesday
night".

Since online poker came to prominence two years ago on a wave
of media coverage, the market has been flooded with operators. Industry
sources estimate there are about 200 poker sites, although the leading
eight share 95 per cent of the market (Christiansen). Of these
pioneers, PartyPoker, the flagship site of Gibraltar-based PartyGaming,
is the undisputed market leader, recording profits of $1.4m (£750,000)
a day in the first three months of 2005. Following behind are
Israeliowned PokerStars, Sportingbet's Paradise Poker, Ongame's
PokerRoom and Cassava Enterprises' Pacific Poker, along with brand
extensions from the likes of Ladbrokes and William Hill.

In May, PokerPulse.com estimates that 1.84 million people
played online for money, but Christiansen predicts this $1bn market
will be worth $6.4bn (£3.46bn) by 2009. Although about 75 per cent of
players live in the US, this is expected to fall to 50 per cent within
four years. Europe is marked for particular growth, with the UK the
star market, already accounting for an estimated 80 per cent of the
continent's players.

For its backers, the exciting thing about poker is that it's a
genuine global pursuit. Whereas online sports-betting is territorial
and other casino games are harder to master, poker is international,
cheap to get in on and easy to pick up at a basic level. "There are 50
million to 70 million people in the US who play poker already and a
larger number outside the US," says Vikrant Bhargava, marketing
director of PartyGaming. "A very large percentage of those people use
the internet, but how many have tried playing online?" Without doubt,
it's an increasing number. At the time of writing - late evening in
London, mid-afternoon in New York - there were 49,201 people playing on
6,639 virtual tables at PartyPoker, which often claims 60,000 at peak
times.

Critical mass

The market may not be mature, but the larger players have more
than enough punters online at any one time to guarantee full 'tables'
for all. While a handful of web sites, including PokerRoom, offer a
browser-based option, most operators offer only a downloadable
platform, believing the quality of the software creates stand-out.

However, Michael caselli, editor of poker lifestyle magazine
Bluff, suggests "player liquidity" is more important: "There is not
much differentiation between the technologies. The key point of
differentiation is size. The online poker rooms have reached critical
mass - you can always find the game you want, at the limit you want, at
any time of day."

This autumn, caselli is launching Bluff in the UK and
Scandinavia, where online poker's po****rity is building fast, largely
due to TV exposure. "It is a relatively simple game to pick up, and
because it has entertainment value on TV, people watch it and say 'I
could have played that hand better than him'."

The rise of high-rating pokerTV shows, such as Channel 4's Late
Night Poker and Challenge TV's Celebrity Poker Club is one of the clear
origins of the online poker boom. In the US, World Poker Tour is the
highest-rated show in the Travel Channel's history. However, Late Night
Poker is credited with making the game accessible to a TV audience by
building glass squares into the playing table, through which players'
cards can be seen. "That turned it into a decent game to watch," says
Andy May, director of strategic marketing at SportingBet, owner of
ParadisePoker. "But what really brought the whole online thing about
was Chris Moneymaker - fortunate name - coming in, paying virtually
nothing and winning $2.5m (£1.35m)."

It would be hard to imagine a better ad for the game. In May
2003, Moneymaker, a 27-year-old accountant, backed by his dad and a
friend called, incredibly, David Gamble, won the 34th annual World
Series of Poker in Las Vegas, having qualified at PokerStars.com with
$40 (£21.60) stake. His win transformed perceptions of poker among
amateurs and gave millions extra hope of a big payday.

"A lot of revenue online is driven by the tournaments because a
lot of the play online is about winning seats at tournaments," says
Emma Crowe, European area director at WPTonline, the newly launched
site of the market-leading World Poker Tour brand. "You can sit and
play, and earn your cash online, but to go from that to winning a seat
at somewhere like the Bellagio to play against some of the top poker
players is phenomenal."

Moneymaker's win marked the start of the current land-grab.
PartyPoker was the first to take the initiative, investing heavily in
off- and online marketing. "When the market started to grow in the US
in early 2003, we had the infrastructure in place to capitalise on it.
To a large extent, we helped to grow the market," says Bhargava. "It
was a matter of timing and we did a few things right. We never
hesitated to put more money behind something we could see was working."

With size comes momentum, but that isn't the only thing that
makes PartyPoker hard to beat. caselli reckons "they are very clever in
their market. They are results driven and analytical". Bhargava thinks
PartyPoker's greatest asset is its players, who are encouraged by a
referral programme to direct friends to the site. It also has a network
of more than 5,000 affiliates, copious outdoor advertising and branded
tournaments, such as the PartyPoker Million tournament cruise ship.

'Wow' factor

Paradise Poker gave the online market a sense of its
burgeoningvaluewhen it was acquired in October 2004 by Sportingbet for
$297m (£160.6m). It has grown under its current owner and is gearing up
for the world's first $ 1 m (£540,000) free-roll jackpot, which, as the
name suggests, costs nothing to enter and has an enormous first prize.

"What has happened with this 'wow' factor of TV and Chris
Moneymaker, and the whole 'small-stakes, big-win' opportunity, is that
online poker now appeals to a much broader marketing segment, so it has
to be more mass-market in its marketing approach,"says May.
Accordingly, the $ 1m free-roll jackpot will come straight out of
Paradise Poker's marketing budget, "but we have attracted thousands of
people to come and have a go, and our hope is that people will like the
site and the software and come back for more", he explains.

Given the close connection between the appeal of offline and
online poker, the leading web brands are increasingly conscious of how
they must integrate their marketing campaigns. "When we launch an
offline campaign in the UK, the numbers coming from online affiliates
go up significantly," explains Bhargava. "That tells you that anything
you do offline helps to build brand awareness, but the conversion is
more likely to happen through somethingyou do online."

Paradise Poker is spending more offline, largely on TV
activity. Ongame's PokerRoom plans to do the same, having focused on
magazine ads and affiliate marketing to build the brand with the one
and stimulate traffic with the other.

Any relationship will always be long-distance as most poker
sites are run from out-of-the-way places for tax reasons. In all other
respects, a defining characteristic of the market leaders is their
corporate respectability. PartyGaming and Sportingbet are listed
companies; the former was valued at £5bn when it floated it June,
making it as big as British Airways and Marks & Spencer combined.
Meanwhile, Sportingbet is the largest firm on AIM with a £1 bn
valuation.

"It is a real industry," says Bill Mummery, head of e-gaming
development for the Isle of Man Government. "They are real businesses
and they are very well managed. If you lo(Oct 2005): p. 46-48ok at
things like risk management, anti-money laundering and fraud, if banks
had the quality and immediacy of data that this industry has grown up
with, they would find it much easier to deal with these issues."

One reason for this professionalism is that, in many places,
the legality of online poker is a moot point. In the US, no-one is sure
whether it is covered by the Wire Act, which forbids gambling over the
phone. Since poker is a game of skill, its advocates argue that it is
not strictly gambling, but the law has not been tested. "The industry
is young, so it's generally unregulated - that's the problem," says
Selin. "We want it to be regulated. I think what the UK government is
doing [with its pending gambling bill] is very important - putting
everything in place."

[sever]

John Raczka, former head of content at BTopenworld and now
marketing consultant to the World Poker Exchange, which staged the
London Open in August, points out that online play has rehabilitated
poker in US casinos. Many had largely abandoned poker due to its low
yields, compared with other games, but a good proportion have now
reinstated it as a loss-leader. "Casinos that closed their poker rooms
have reopened them," he says. "Those that still had rooms have doubled
the size."

Last year, the annual turnover from the gambling industry
increased 25 per cent to £78bn. While some say the bubble is destined
to burst, the market leaders are staking everything on a more positive
outcome, possibly taking to heart the words of one Robert 'Chip Burner'
Turner: "A person should gamble every day - think how bad it would be
to walk around lucky and not know it." But, in an industry as hotly
contested as this one, luck doesn't come into it.

The industry is young, so it's unregulated - that's the
problem. I think what the UK government is doing is important-putting
everything in place

Patrik Selin

Ongame

Worldpokertour.com: tournaments drive revenue online

It's a relatively simple game to pick up, and because it has
entertainment value on TV, people watch it and say 'I could have played
that hand better than him'

Michael Caselli

Bluff

Poker wars: the leading protagonists

PartyPoker.com

Founded: 2001

Owner: PartyGaming

Founded by Ruth Parasol, ex-sex phoneline mogul, and Anurag
Dikshit, the firm was catapulted into the FTSE 100 on
itsJuneflotation.lt had 21.46 per cent of UK search traffic that month
(Hitwise), but as it is played over downloaded software, this masks its
true size. PokerPulse credited it with 54 per cent from 1 January to 5
June. PartyGaming saw pre-tax profits of $371.7m (£201.09m) in 2004.

PokerStars.com

Founded: 1999

Owner: Scheinberg family

PokerStars is said to be the second-biggest poker site, with
eight per cent market share. The commission it takes from players, the
'rake', is said to be $400,000 to $500,000 (£216,392 to £270,500) a
day. It wrote its name in the history books when it launched the first
internet poker star, 2003 US Masters champion Chris Moneymaker. It
recently moved to the Isle of Man amid rumours of an IPO.

PokerRoom.com

Founded: 1999

Owner: Ongame

Launched by Oskar Hornell and Claes Lidell, students and
professional poker players in Uppsala, Sweden. Ongame has 200 staff,
125 of whom are programmers, and its PokerNetwork has about five
million registered players. PokerRoom is Ongame's largest site and it
prides itself on its multiple platforms, including Java, mobile and
downloadable interfaces. Ongame grew by 353 per cent last year.

PacificPoker.com

Founded: 1998

Owner: Cassava Enterprises

Based in Gibraltar, Cassava owns online casino 888.com and is
speculated to be next in line for a stockmarket flotation. Former
snooker champion Steve Davis competed in last year's 888.com Pacific
Poker Open 2004 on Challenge TV. PokerPulse credited Pacific with six
per cent market share from January to June.

ParadisePoker.com

Founded: 1999

Owner: Sportingbet

Acquired by listed online gambling firm Sportingbet last
October for $297.5m (£160.95), Paradise has been a lucky charm, raising
its valuation on AIM to more than £1 bn. The site was on course to
register a million users this summer and PokerPulse gave it five per
cent market share for the first five months of 2005.

Rankings based on observed total real money ring game and
tournament players from 1-19 July 2005. Source: PokerPulse

If you look at things like risk management and fraud, if banks
had the quality and immediacy of data that this industry has, they
would find it much easier to deal with these issues

Bill Mummery

Isle of Man Government

Worldpokerexchange.com: staged the London Open in August

[sever]

Empire close to $200m deal to settle PartyGaming dispute
By Julia Kollewe
Published: 11 February 2006

Empire Online is close to settling its legal dispute with PartyGaming in a deal that would see PartyGaming pay Empire $200m (£114m) for terminating the "skin" arrangement under which Empire players were directed to the same platform as those of its rival's Party- Poker website.

Empire issued a statement to the market yesterday after its shares rose amid rumours that its legal spat with PartyGaming, the world's largest online poker company, was coming to an end. The internet gaming operator said: "Empire Online confirms that it is in advanced discussions regarding settlement of the outstanding litigation claim with PartyGaming and assignment of the company's related skin activities to PartyGaming."

According to insiders, PartyGaming would pay its smaller rival about $200m for its skin, the Empire Poker platform that was previously intertwined with PartyGaming until the online poker giant decided to ring-fence its own players from the Empire ones. A deal is thought to be imminent.

The Empire Poker platform is estimated to make $13m of profits in the financial year. After two profit warnings from Empire last year, a recent trading update showed there is life after PartyGaming, with strong growth at the other platform, Club Dice and Nobel Poker. Empire reiterated its guidance for 2005, saying it would make annual profits of at least $50m, with $37m coming from Club Dice and Noble Poker. Both have been signing up new members at a rate of 23 per cent a quarter.

A settlement would put an end to the litigation. Empire announced in November it would sue its rival in the Court of Gibraltar and was thought to be seeking $500m damages for lost business after PartyGaming weakened its ties with Empire. If Empire had taken its claim to the US, it could have amounted to three times that sum. As well as substantial damages, Empire has been seeking "injunctive relief" to force PartyGaming to restore the skin arrangement.

Empire, which sent punters to gambling operations run by its partners such as PartyGaming and shared revenues, was worth more than £500m when it floated in June at the height of the online poker craze. Its value crashed to £200m after the profit warnings but has since recovered to £400m. Empire was furious that in October PartyGaming moved "overnight" to end the partnership agreement. But last year a letter sent in May surfaced in which PartyGaming warned Empire's chief executive Noam Lanir that the relationship between the two gaming groups could change.

PartyGaming was tight-lipped yesterday but in a recent statement it said it would prefer an "amicable resolution" to the dispute. Empire shares rose 5 per cent to 135.5p yesterday.

Empire Online is close to settling its legal dispute with PartyGaming in a deal that would see PartyGaming pay Empire $200m (£114m) for terminating the "skin" arrangement under which Empire players were directed to the same platform as those of its rival's Party- Poker website.

Empire issued a statement to the market yesterday after its shares rose amid rumours that its legal spat with PartyGaming, the world's largest online poker company, was coming to an end. The internet gaming operator said: "Empire Online confirms that it is in advanced discussions regarding settlement of the outstanding litigation claim with PartyGaming and assignment of the company's related skin activities to PartyGaming."

According to insiders, PartyGaming would pay its smaller rival about $200m for its skin, the Empire Poker platform that was previously intertwined with PartyGaming until the online poker giant decided to ring-fence its own players from the Empire ones. A deal is thought to be imminent.

The Empire Poker platform is estimated to make $13m of profits in the financial year. After two profit warnings from Empire last year, a recent trading update showed there is life after PartyGaming, with strong growth at the other platform, Club Dice and Nobel Poker. Empire reiterated its guidance for 2005, saying it would make annual profits of at least $50m, with $37m coming from Club Dice and Noble Poker. Both have been signing up new members at a rate of 23 per cent a quarter.

A settlement would put an end to the litigation. Empire announced in November it would sue its rival in the Court of Gibraltar and was thought to be seeking $500m damages for lost business after PartyGaming weakened its ties with Empire. If Empire had taken its claim to the US, it could have amounted to three times that sum. As well as substantial damages, Empire has been seeking "injunctive relief" to force PartyGaming to restore the skin arrangement.

Empire, which sent punters to gambling operations run by its partners such as PartyGaming and shared revenues, was worth more than £500m when it floated in June at the height of the online poker craze. Its value crashed to £200m after the profit warnings but has since recovered to £400m. Empire was furious that in October PartyGaming moved "overnight" to end the partnership agreement. But last year a letter sent in May surfaced in which PartyGaming warned Empire's chief executive Noam Lanir that the relationship between the two gaming groups could change.

PartyGaming was tight-lipped yesterday but in a recent statement it said it would prefer an "amicable resolution" to the dispute. Empire shares rose 5 per cent to 135.5p yesterday.

The Independent

[sever]

We announced today that we have agreed with PartyGaming Plc to terminate all of our "skin" agreements with them and transfer to them our interests in the related websites (which include empirepoker.com, aceclub.com and starluckcasino.com). Although this agreement is conditional upon the approval of our shareholders (which is expected to be on 6 March 2006) we have structured the transaction so that these skin agreements will in effect cease to apply from today's date.

From now on, therefore, we will be concentrating our efforts on our NoblePoker and ClubDicecasino brands.

/empire

[RedStar]

Noble nu e in playtech ?
Empire isi face brand sau trece pe playtech ?

[sever]

cred ca scrie destul de clar

[sever]

Lawmaker renews push against Internet gambling



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte will reintroduce a bill this week that would prohibit Internet gambling, a fast-growing industry valued at about $12 billion, a spokeswoman for Goodlatte said on Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT

Goodlatte, a Republican, first introduced legislation to ban online gambling nearly a decade ago. In 2000, his bill had strong support in the House but was unexpectedly defeated due in part to efforts by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented gambling interests, according to the spokeswoman.

Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington.

The previous version of Goodlatte's bill would make it illegal to use the Internet for gambling and give law enforcement officials the authority to stop credit card payments to offshore Internet gambling sites.

Goodlatte's spokeswoman said details about the new bill would be released on Thursday. Other sponsors of the bill will be fellow Virginia Republicans Rick Boucher and Frank Wolf, she said.

Shares in two European gaming companies, PartyGaming and 888 Holdings fell in Tuesday trading due to concerns about new U.S. legislation, according to traders.

[Darth]

Cunt.
Ma rog, se pare ca Party a cumparat inapoi Empire, cel putin asa am inteles dintr-un mail.

[RedStar]

Party Gaming a luat de la Empire Online empirepoker.com si aceclubs.com pentru $250 mil.

[RedStar]

Party Gaming CEO si-a dat demisia. Se saturase

[sever]

Welcome to the new Gamebookers, now part of the PartyGaming family, the largest online gaming company in the world.

100 mil euro

[sever]

LONDON (Reuters) - Gambling software maker Playtech said on Monday it had agreed to buy part of rival Tribeca Tables Europe for $75 million (39 million pounds) in a company-transforming deal.

The deal brings with it a number of Internet gambling sites currently operating on Tribeca's software platform, including VCPoker, PaddyPower Poker, Blue Square Poker and Scandinavian group, Expekt.

"This is a landmark deal for Playtech, which in one move, transforms the company into the world's leading poker network that excludes U.S. players," said Playtech Chief Executive Avigur Zmora.

Playtech also announced third-quarter income from non-U.S. players increased to 53 percent from 49 percent a year earlier.

"On the basis that the company (Tribeca) will generate about $16 million over the coming year from the migration date, the consideration to be paid for Tribeca will be $75 million," Playtech said in a statement.

"The maximum consideration that the company will be liable to pay is $139 million, which will be paid in the event that the revenue generated from this acquisition exceeds $29 million over the coming year from the migration date," it added.

Playtech shares closed at 190 pence on Friday, valuing the group at around 407 million pounds.