PartyGaming Moves Toward US Gambling Return With WPT Acquisition

PartyGaming has settled their differences with the US government regarding illegal online gambling activity, and now the company has positioned itself to return to the US gambling market. On Sunday, PartyGaming completed their deal to acquire the rights to the World Poker Tour.

PartyGaming gains the rights to a plethora of gambling opportunities in the US and worldwide. They will receive the rights to over 16,000 poker players that are currently signed up for a subscription to the WPT.

In addition, PartyGaming will receive the rights to land based tournaments that are run in Europe and the US. The WPT has 150 hours of poker programming that will be included in the deal. In exchange, PartyGaming will give back $3 million in revenue sharing over the next three years.

The deal was not completed smoothly. Mandalay Media attempted to make a last-minute proposal that would keep PartyGaming from acquiring the World Poker Tour brand. Their proposal of $36.5 million was turned away for the assets deal that PartyGaming had proposed.

PartyGaming settled with the US earlier this year and had to pay a significant amount of money to the US to avoid prosecution. Their founder, Anurag Dikshit, pleaded guilty and helped the US with their investigation of the company.

The US online gambling laws are being called into question by several lawmakers. Representative Barney Frank has proposed legislation that would regulate Internet gambling in the country. He currently has sixty-two co-sponsors for his Bill, but there likely will not be a discussion on the legislation until the new year.

November 9, 2009
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
Submit News!