European Operator Share Prices Soar Following Crack Down on US Po

Posted by Adam Grunwerg on May 05, 2011 Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »

european poker stocksShare prices in UK gaming companies including 888 Holdings, Playtech and Bwin.Party have soared after the recent “Black Friday” illegal crackdown on US poker sites.

Bwin.Party shares have shot up 30%, 888 Holdings (owned of 888 Poker) up 19% and Playtech 8%.

The reasons for the share price growth of European poker sites are obvious really:  investors are hedging that high-value players, affiliates and processors are going to switch to safe sites.

As we’ve already seen with the closure of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker their European traffic has dropped considerably even as they aim to build up confidence in Europe by guaranteeing that all non-US player accounts money will be paid out.  PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker all lost considerably confidence after the government accused the owners of these poker rooms of “illegal gambling, money laundering and bank fraud.”

Industry analysts and Barclays Bank investment arm have stated explicitly that they not only expect European operators such as Bwin.Party to gain directly from increased traffic from US poker sites, but also from the increased liquidity in their network.  It is argued US poker sites such as PokerStars were able to leverage the huge liquidity of their network from US players in order to expand into foreign markets such as Europe.  As is evident in online poker, the higher the liquidity of a poker room the bigger the attraction for players. More players mean more cash games, lower waiting times in SNGs, and bigger guaranteed tournament prizepools.

The latest PokerScout.com traffic estimates have suggested that PokerStars traffic has dropped by 25% over the last week while Full Tilt Poker has lost almost half (48%) of its weekly traffic.

A further blow was dealt to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker as they lost out on their respective deals with Las Vegas casino groups Wynn Resorts and Station Casinos.  Analysts expect similar deals to be pursued by UK-based operators in preparation for legal online gambling in the US which is expected over the next few years.

This news article was provided to us by Mobile Casino Bonus.

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