The latest news out of the Guardian UK is that PartyGaming and 888 Holdings have chatted over coffee about the possibility of a merger in light of the US Gambling Ban. Both are publicly listed in the UK, both operate out of Gibralter [offices on the same block] and the merger has been estimated at a value of $3B USD. Since the ban Party stock lost 70% of its value while 888 lost about 25%.
PartyGaming runs PartyPoker, what once was the largest online poker room, while 888 owns Casino-On-Net and Pacific Poker, no slouches themselves. The problem for Party mainly lies in the fact that at least 75% of its revenues came from the US market, so when they pulled out after the ban, they started sucking wind. 888 wasn’t impacted as much after pulling out America, since they’ve been marketing internationally for years and perhaps 50% of their revenue comes from the US.
So what do we make of this?
Well, it’s obviously early stage for merger talks, but that aside, what’s the real impact on the industry and players? This is where it gets interesting.
Let’s say I’m a UK player and I’ve been playing at PartyPoker because of the sheer number of other players. Then one day 75% of the players go away because they’re from the US. So what do I do? Stick with Party? No way - I want to go where the players are, so I start looking for poker rooms that still accept Americans, places like Scarlet Poker, Ultimate Bet, Full Tilt Poker, etc [go here for a complete list of places to play]. Where does that leave PartyPoker? Sucking even more wind because now their international players are leaving too, and revenue plummets further. The situation isn’t much rosier for 888 or the other major pub co’s either.
So one move from the US could collapse public, legally operating companies from many other nations. Shining stars of foreign public markets disappear and drive down the value of their stock market index - most countries don’t like that. Imagine if Microsoft disappeared from the Nasdaq one day - that’s impact.
Anyway, there’s an international battle brewing behind the “innocuous” moral arguments of our special-interest friends in Washington. One can imagine Bill Frist getting a cavity search upon arrival at Heathrow. Don’t worry, we’ll publish the photos.
That’s the consensus across the board just a couple of weeks past the official signing into law of the UIGE Act – there has been no shut down of poker. Only a shake up.
Article after article, post after post, confirms that American poker players are not giving up their game - they’re just playing in the new places that welcome them.
In fact, it seems that the smaller poker rooms are booming. The Tribeca Tables Network that is connected through online poker rooms such as Doyle’s, Scarlet, and Victor Chandler are seeing a huge influx of American players. All that ‘Black Friday’ did was shift players from the publicly traded companies to the private ones.
The bigger rooms that are publicly traded had to bend to the new act, being forced to drop the US market due to a restriction on their books that say they can not knowingly break the law in a country they trade in; this opened the door for smaller, privately owned poker rooms and networks, such as Skill Games, to step up and take on a larger share of the market pie.
It’s working Poker Players. The UIGE Act is un-American – and we’re proving it.
So keep playing poker. Keep talking poker. Because Poker is America.
Wouldn’t you look good in a new t-shirt or hoodie? We think so. That’s why we designed a bunch of great gear and set-up a store. We earn a little bit of revenue on each sale and we roll that straight back into the blog and our public relations and lobbying efforts. We’d love it if all our visitors and regular readers outfitted themselves in our stuff. One day, it will be a collectors item! Check it out.
If you’re looking for a good poker room to see a few flops, go to Scarlet Poker, our founding sponsor. They’re part of the Tribeca Tables Network and as I write, there are 12,000 players at the tables, which is big growth ever since the gambling ban went into effect. And they have a sweet deposit bonus too.
If you just want to polish your game, we’ve put together a great selection of poker books, including Harrington’s series on tournament play. Nothing better than NOT being the fish at the table.
Thank you for your support! We now return you to our regular programming!
The latest initiative of the Association of Professional Casino Webmasters [APCW] is Perspectives Weekly, a short news feature covering the online gambling industry, and it’s certainly of interest to all players, affiliates and operators. The APCW are truly working their hearts out to make online gaming safe and legal in the USA.
The premiere episode focuses on the new gambling prohibition, the relative silence from most of the online casino operators, and the impact of American federal law on state gaming laws.
You might notice that Poker Patriots is featured at the top of the piece. A big shout out to the APCW for associating with Poker Patriots. Part of our mission is to build partnerships with other organizations like the APCW to contribute to positive change.
We believe Americans should have the freedom to play, bet, wager, or gamble on their favorite games of skill and chance, be it poker, blackjack, bingo or backgammon.
“Ain’t only 3 things to gambling: knowing the 60-40 end of a proposition, money management, and knowing yourself.” ~ Pug Pearson, World Poker Champion
“Know Thyself” ~ the Ancient Greek aphorism inscribed in golden letters at the lintel of the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and inscribed in Latin (”Temet Nosce”) above the entrance to the Oracle’s kitchen in The Matrix
What is your poker play like when you’re hungry? How about when you’re tired? How about when you’re hungry and tired? What kinds of mistakes do you make at such times? How about when you’ve been up all night? Or when you’re angry? Or when you’re flush with money? Or when your day has been going badly? Or when you’ve had a couple of beers?
In a typically coherant move, Tessa Jowell, the Secretary for the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport has spoken out against the US gambling ban, saying the “new prohibition” makes offshore gambling sites the “modern equivalent of speakeasies,” the illegal bars that opened in the US under alcohol prohibition in the 1920’s. Of course she believes that regulation is far better than prohibition.
The DCMS set up the Gambling Commission back in 2001 to study the issue of “remote gaming,” or any form of gaming that happens away from a physical establishment. By 2005, they had developed the Gambling Act to cover and regulate all forms of gambling in the UK, with a target implementation date of September 2007. This timeframe may be adjusted in light of recent developments. As we stated in a previous post, the UK is working hard to become the world leader in Internet Gambling.
Ms. Jowell is hosting a summit next week with politicians from 30 countries to discuss the achievement of international gambling regulations.
Kasper, R-Fargo, had promoted a bill and state constitutional amendment during the 2005 Legislature to allow North Dakota to license and regulate online poker sites. His bill resembled the way the UK Gambling Act will regulate and tax online gambling and protect its citizens when it goes live in 2007.
Kasper believed that by regulating the online poker industry in North Dakota that the license fees generated would have covered the costs for all state public services and reduce property taxes. He also believed that the state-owned bank of North Dakota would have been able to make profits since they would be the only bank allowed to handle North Dakota-licensed online poker transactions.
The thinking behind Kasper’s bill was similar to the revolution the credit card industry underwent a couple of decades ago. And by addressing new laws and regulations, the Dakotas were on the front lines of a credit industry boom. Other states quickly followed when they caught wind of the money being made. That’s why today you have the number of choices and rates offered in a variety of credit products.
But, for now, protectionism won over vision.
When Freeloading Frist slipped the UIGE Act into the Safe Port Act in the last hours before Congress adjourned, Kasper commented, “I was saddened to see what the Republican Congress did.”
He added, “It was a terrible way to make public policy.”
This might be one of the most important rules in poker.
What does it mean? It means: stay on it at 3 PM. It means stay on it at 4 AM. Stay on it at dawn. Stay on it when seated for hours next to a loud obnoxious player. Stay on it while sitting next to a loud drunk who is getting lucky every hand. Stay on it despite a series of bad beats, one after another. Stay on it despite having great success and a mountain of chips. Stay on it whether you’re up $450 or down $650. Stay on it despite failure and despite success. Still stay on it.
“Chaos breeds opportunity and we will seize that opportunity. The European Union is run in a way that favors our business,” states Mitch Garber, CEO of PartyGaming.
Monte Carlo Casino at night
Not all countries in the EU are going the way of regulation. Though the UK, Italy and Belgium are opting to regulate, France and Germany are attempting to protect both their private and state-owned lottery and casino revenues.
“European countries like the U.K. that take a more enlightened approach of regulation, not prohibition, stand to gain.” - Paul Renney, Internet lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard in London
The primary impact of all this maneuvering for the American gambler is simple: “American gamblers may find themselves pushed into a market that’s in the hands of Europeans,” according to William Eadington, a professor at the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada at Reno.
As the final word, Mitch Garber addresses the major issue at play in Europe, and which we believe also applies to American lottery corporations and private gaming operators such as Harrah’s and MGM Mirage: “The gaming and lottery monopolies are the last to fall, and they are falling and will fall. You’re going to see a lot more tolerance in Europe.”
So starts a recent article in the Sunday Times Business section. The British have realized that the internet will keep on growing right along with gambling. Together, internet gambling will present fantastic opportunities on an international scale. Since both industries generate innovation, technology, expertise, high-paying careers and tax revenue, it would be smart to lead the way. Make a plan. Attract investment. Regulate, tax and promote.
Britain gets visionary leadership. We get the UIGE Act.
We invent poker. They create an international market from it.
London has their gambling companies listed on a stock exchange. We can’t even use Visa to bet on the World Series.
The rest of the world embraces challenges, finds solutions, and surges ahead. We nod our heads and go “tsk, tsk”.
Poker is one of America’s greatest exports to the world. Too bad we’re just giving it away.
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The latest news out of the Guardian UK is that PartyGaming and 888 Holdings have chatted over coffee about the possibility of a merger in light of the US Gambling Ban. Both are publicly listed in the UK, both operate out of Gibralter [offices on the same block] and the merger has been estimated at a value of $3B USD. Since the ban Party stock lost 70% of its value while 888 lost about 25%.
Wouldn’t you look good in a new t-shirt or hoodie? We think so. That’s why 
The latest initiative of the 
In a typically coherant move, Tessa Jowell, the Secretary for the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport 
Those are the words of 
In a follow-up to