Poker News Media - Casino News Media - Media Man: Broker snap: bwin.party has potential post merger

Press Release

5th April 2011

Broker snap: bwin.party has potential post merger

Panmure Gordon ups its target price for PartyGaming following its merger with bwin, saying that the newly-formed bwin.party Digital Entertainment has the potential to deliver above-average earnings growth, underpinned by €55m of merger synergies.

“Recent regulatory developments have been overwhelmingly positive for eGaming operators, in our view and we think eGaming stocks are well placed for a period of sustained outperformance,” said the broker.

Panmure estimates that bwin.party will be almost twice the size of its closest peers in 2012, and its scale benefits give it a significant advantage in the French and Italian poker markets, where the broker thinks it will be among the top three poker liquidity providers.

The broker keeps its ‘buy’ rating, but increases the target price from 275p to 288p.

Press Release

1st April 2011

Beyond the Deal Selected to Support Merger Integration of PartyGaming and bwin

Beating stiff competition, Beyond the Deal LLP has been chosen to support the integration of PartyGaming and bwin, following their announced transformational merger inJuly 2010 to form bwin.party digital entertainment plc (Ticker: BPTY). The deal, completed today, makes bwin.party, the world's largest listed online gaming company.

Conducted across key bwin and PartyGaming locations across Europe, and working with senior executives and management in the merged entity, Beyond the Deal's work is focused on supporting integration planning, internal communications and cultural alignment.

Kathy Swindley, Group HR Director for bwin.party digital entertainment, said:

"We have chosen to work with Beyond the Deal due to its skills and understanding of the complex challenges that arise from merging different international cultures."

Carlos Keener, Managing Partner, Beyond the Deal LLP, stated:

"Our appointment by bwin.party continues to highlight our ability to support the largest multi-national deals in a way that is responsive, flexible, and makes the best use of clients' own capabilities and experience in merger integration. We look forward to working with many other companies as M&A activity resumes in the coming months."

Notes to Editors

1. Established by Carlos Keener in 2001, Beyond the Deal (http://www.beyondthedeal.com) is an advisory and resources firm specialising in post merger integration, based in the UK & US.

2. The company focuses on acquisition and integration strategy, business model design, integration planning and management, and other post-acquisition areas such as business process change, organisational design, HR, IT, branding, culture, communications, and risk management.

3. Beyond the Deal's Cultural Snapshot Survey helps businesses address the need for cultural assessment alongside more commonplace pre-deal processes, and certainly as part of acquisition target assessment and integration planning. The survey considers both organisational and national culture, links it to post-deal business models and integration planning, and provides practical ways forward for cultural alignment post-deal.

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PartyPoker Unleashes Card Rush Instant Win Promotion - 5th April 2011

PartyPoker, the world’s third largest online poker room, is offering up 1.8 million prize cards as part of its Card Rush Instant Win promotion in April. The promotion will run through April 30th or until the prize cards are given away and offers numerous chances to earn extra cash by playing on the site this month.

You can obtain a Card Rush card simply by playing in a real money game on PartyPoker and earning points. The first card will cost five points and subsequent cards will cost 15 points. Players may obtain up to 50 cards per day, but the promotion will end when all 1.8 million are assigned.

Each card will instantly give players a monetary prize between $1 and $5,000, a points prize up to 25,000, or entry into a freeroll. The freerolls will run on the following days:

Card Rush $2,000 Freeroll – May 5th at 1:00pm ET
Card Rush $15,000 Freeroll – May 5th at 2:30pm ET
Card Rush $3,000 Freeroll – May 6th at 1:00pm ET
Card Rush $10,000 Freeroll – May 6th at 2:30pm ET
Card Rush $5,000 Freeroll – May 7th at 1:00pm ET
Card Rush $7,000 Freeroll – May 7th at 2:30pm ET
Card Rush $20,000 Freeroll – May 8th at 1:00pm ET

Players can also earn cash in the Card Rush Race, a leaderboard that will pay the top 200 point-earners a minimum of $100. Points will be awarded as part of the Card Rush promotion ranging from one to 20 points per card. The more points a player earns, the more money they’ll receive. Here’s a look at the payouts:

1st place – $9,000
2nd place – $7,000
3rd place – $5,250
4th place – $4,000
5th place – $3,500
6th place – $3,000
7th place – $2,500
8th place – $2,000
9th place – $1,500
10th place – $1,000
11th-18th places – $800
19th-30th places – $700
31st-45th places – $600
46th-60th places – $500
61st-75th places – $400
76th-100th places – $300
101st-125th places – $200
126th-150th places – $150
151st-200th places – $50

In addition, every 20th spot from 220 to 2,000 will earn a Hot Spot prize of $50.

PartyPoker is also running daily qualifiers to the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Qualifiers are running now until June 19th, with satellites available for as little as $2. Each $14,000 package includes the $10,000 Main Event buy-in, travel and eight days’ hotel accommodations, and $2,000 spending money.

There are also special qualifiers exclusively for first-time depositors. Every month, new players can enter an exclusive freeroll to win one of 10 seats, each worth $750, in the WSOP weekly satellite.

PartyGaming, which owns and operates PartyPoker, recently merged with bwin to form the largest gambling group in the world. With the merger, Party Gaming hopes to even the playing field in the online poker arena as it positions itself to re-enter the U.S. market.

The new company also hopes the merge will expand the PartyPoker brand in Europe. bwin previously resided on the Ongame Network, but now combines its client base with PartyPoker to create the third largest online poker room in the world. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

Media Man, Casino News Media and Global Gaming Directory do have a b2b relationship with PartyGaming, as they do with dozens of other companies in the gaming, igaming, media and entertainment industry.

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Poker News Media: PKR Promotions

PKR is offering the following poker promotions this month.

Win a $5,000 APT package!

In February, PKR is also offering satellites for the APT Philippines Main Event. The satellites for this live tournament are running 24/7 with entry fees starting from just $2.16. If you happen to take down a satellite tournament you’ll win a fantastic $5,000 APT package including your buy-in to the Main Event plus spending money to go with it!

In addition, PKR offers satellites to the WSOP giving you the chance to be playing at the same table with some of the best high stakes players in the real world. In the games lobby, you can also find satellites to the monthly 100K guaranteed tournament. So if you feel like risking very little to potentially win a lot, then the satellite qualifiers are for you!

PKR Freerolls

As usual, PKR offers six daily freerolls on their tournament schedule which any player can join. The PKR freerolls are a great way to gain valuable experience and to hone your poker skills for free.

Guaranteed Poker Tournaments

At PKR, you can also play for over $2,500,000 in guaranteed prizes every month! PKR offer a great selection of guaranteed poker tournaments with big prize pools on offer. Like satellite tournaments, players are given the unique chance of a big score with very limited risk.

PKR is on Facebook

Do you use the social networking site Facebook? If you become a fan of PKR on Facebook, you can take advantage of some great promotions such as exclusive Facebook freerolls, money added tournaments, and you can also win tickets to some cool tournaments.

Welcome Bonus

The PKR promotions don’t stop there either. If you are a new player and make a deposit, you will be eligible for the first time deposit bonus, up to $800!

PKR.com is a multi time Media Man, Casino News Media and Poker News Media website of the month award winner

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PartyGaming, PartyCasino, Bwin Do Deal With Las Vegas Land Based Casinos, by Greg Tingle - 15th February 2011

PartyGaming, PartyCasino, Bwin Do Deal With Las Vegas Land Based Casinos, by Greg Tingle - 15th February 2011

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PartyGaming, the Gibraltar based iGaming powerhouse, is understood to have signed at least two major agreements to supply a gaming platform for online poker (and perhaps casino) to whale size Las Vegas land based casinos.

The Vegas casinos that Media Man and Gambling911 insiders hint are in the mix include MGM, Las Vegas Sands, Boyd Gaming and Caesars (former Harrahs Entertainment). It's unlikely a Donald Trump casino is in, as he's just sold at least one of his establishments. Trump is a fan of online casinos, but leaks say he is frustrated by what appears to be slow progress of igaming into mainstream America.

PartyGaming left the US after the UIGEA bill became law and a settlement towards $300 million was made with the DOJ (Department Of Justice).

The firm smartly snatched the opportunity to re-enter the US market if online gambling was ever legalized.

PartyGaming, which has now merged with Bwin, an Austrian based outfit is now ideally positioned to become a major force in the US, having also conducted b2b with other nations government departments, and has many a U.S senator and lawmaker on side, not to mention poker and casino associations and players.

Legalized online gambling in the US is tipped to be just around the corner, as legislators will provide a bill to congress for a vote.

Pro gambling groups and switched on politicians who can see the financial benefits are pushing hard for PartyGaming and a number other iGaming brands to go above board in the United States.

Party enjoys strong presence in the U.S (and Canada and Australia), with its Hollywood titles including Marvel Entertainment tie ins, plus the World Poker Tour brand which it owns and operates, and frequently gets airtime on television broadcasts in much of the western world. It's now or never for PartyGaming, and our leaks tell us its now, no bluff!

Readers, as always, bet with your head, not over it, and have fun.

*Media Man conducts some b2b with PartyGaming brands, as they do with dozens of other media, entertainment and gaming companies. Media Man is not a gaming company, but covers the sector, as they do over a dozen other industry verticals.

*The writer is a regular contributor for Gambling911.

*The writer's favorite slot games are Sinatra Slot and Thor!

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PartyGaming: A Double Winner at the International Gaming Awards - 31st January 2011

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PartyGaming is proud to announce that it was a double winner at this year’s International Gaming Awards, being voted both best Online Casino Operator and Online Bingo Operator of the year. Held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in London’s Knightsbridge, the awards were open to both land-based and online operators and attracted entries from more than 300 companies from around the world.

In making the Online Casino Operator award to PartyCasino, the independent judging panel said: “PartyCasino is certainly leading the online casino business. PartyCasino has shown that poker is not the only industry on the internet.”

Cashcade, best known for its UK market-leading Foxy Bingo brand and which was acquired by PartyGaming in the Summer of 2009, won the Online Bingo Operator award for the second year running. The citation for the bingo award said: “Foxy looks like great fun and has an outstanding brand identity.”

Colin Thomson, co-founder of the International Gaming Awards, said: “To win two awards was a great achievement, endorsing PartyGaming’s leadership in the online gaming industry. PartyGaming was also a finalist for awards for Socially Responsible Operator, which is open to both land-based and online operators, and for Online Poker Operator. This is a great all-round achievement for PartyGaming!”

Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of PartyGaming, said: “We are delighted to accept these top online gaming industry accolades. The International Gaming Awards are just that – international. They are also fiercely competitive: I’m proud of our casino and bingo teams who have beaten strong competition to win these awards by providing great online gaming entertainment for our customers.”

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Poker News Media: PartyPoker Launches Double Hold’em

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The game went live almost a month ago, but PartyPoker just made it official with a press release this week: Double Hold’em has landed. The new poker variety is available at both real and play money tables and should prove to be a fun change of pace for even the most devoted Texas Hold’em players.

In Double Hold’em, players are dealt three hole cards rather than the traditional two. After the flop, one of the three cards must be selected as the “point” card (unless the player opts to fold, of course). This point card is then physically moved in between the other two cards and pushed up slightly, creating a triangle of sorts with the three hole cards. The point card is now used to create dual two-card starting hands, one with each of the other hole cards. The two non-point cards do not play together. At showdown, just like in regular Hold’em, the player with the best five-card hand wins and either pair of hole cards can be used to make the best hand. The betting rounds play the same as Hold’em: pre-flop, flop, turn, and river.

Let’s go through an example. Say you are dealt 6h-Ac-5c. You decide to play this hand, so you call pre-flop and see a flop of 3s-4h-Kc. At this point, PartyPoker will give you a few seconds to set your point card. In this case, it looks like you’ll want to at least put the 5 and 6 together so that you have an open-ended straight draw, so the logical option is to make the 5c the point card. With your rearranged hole cards reading 6h-5c-Ac, you now have two sets of cards to run with: 6-5 off suit, which gives you the aforementioned open-ended straight draw, and Ac-5c, which gives you a backdoor flush draw. The 6h and Ac have nothing to do with each other from here on out.

After a round of betting, the Qc falls on the turn, giving you a club flush draw (Ac-5c) to go along with your open-ended straight draw (5c-6h). Another betting round ensues and then the river is dealt: 2d. Using the 5c-6h, you hit your straight. Your busted flush draw doesn’t matter. One more betting round and the cards are flipped over, just like in standard Hold’em.

Double Hold’em was created by E. Mark Gross and Zvi Lando, CEO and CFO, respectively, of TableBrain. In an exclusive blog post at PartyPoker.com, Gross billed Double Hold’em as giving players “more playable hands, more action, and bigger pots! It’s a poker game built by poker fans for poker fans.”

Gross wrote that he and Lando created the game back in 2006, but it took a long time to refine the concept and get it just right in order to achieve their goal of creating “fun, intelligent games that allow players to have more continuous action and decisions at the table.”

TableBrain has also developed a video poker version of the game, which it calls EZ Double Hold’em. There are two variations of this. One is the standard video poker-style game in which a player places a bet before the cards are dealt with no further betting; the other is similar to the live game, with betting rounds at the start, prior to setting the point, after the flop, and after the turn. EZ Double Hold’em can be played for free on TableBrain’s website.

According to industry monitor PokerScout.com, PartyPoker ranks third in terms of cash game traffic behind PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. PartyPoker had been in a tight battle with the iPoker Network, but has recently gained some separation. It owns a seven-day average of 4,250 cash game players versus iPoker’s 3,650. They are both comfortably ahead of the Ongame Network, but light years behind Full Tilt, so it appears that the two will be jockeying for the third spot for quite some time to come. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

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Poker News Media: Win a poker trip to the Philippines with PKR - 7th January 2011

PKR.com the world's most popular 2D and 3D online poker room has done it again.

It's back and it's better than ever!

Book your seat at the APT Philippines 2011 with PKR.com and you could be soaking up the sun and winning huge cash prizes.

Qualifiers are rolling right now from just $2.08 that lead to weekly final satellites where one in every 25 entrants will win $5,000 packages to this amazing event.

PKR.com also offer a host of other world class online poker promotions and now also a wide variety of online slot games and sports betting facilities.

PKR.com have a number of awards and commendations to their name including EGR Poker Operator of the Year Award 2010 and Media Man and Casino News Media 'Online Poker Room Of The Month' - December 2010.

Press Release

PKR.com Wins EGR Poker Operator of the Year Award

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - Dec 8 2010 - Next-generation poker room PKR.com celebrates another big win after picking up the highly sought after Poker Operator of the Year at the 2010 E-Gaming Review Awards ceremony that took place in London recently.

Fighting off a strong field which included household names such as PartyGaming, 888 and William Hill Online, judges praised PKR for demonstrating how originality and constant innovation could build a successful business in the face of liquidity challenges. The award also means that PKR is the holder of both major industry Poker Operator of the Year awards, having won the IGA version in January this year.

Malcolm Graham, CEO of PKR said; "The EGR Awards are very important for the online gaming industry and it is a fantastic achievement for PKR to have won this prestigious award. 2010 has been an astounding year for us and we look forward to adding this title to this year's portfolio, which also includes the top spot in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100."

The E-Gaming Review Awards ceremony took place at the Honorable Artillery Company in the heart of London on 24th November 2010. The event was hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall, and was attended by over 800 people from the gaming industry.

Founded in 2004 by serial entrepreneur Jez San, PKR is headquartered in Camden, London and now employs over 100 staff. It has over 4 million registered users and has won numerous awards including 'Hotshot Operator of the Year' at the 2008 E-Gaming Review Awards, 'Poker Operator of the Year' at the 2010 International Gaming Award and the UK's fastest growing technology company in the 2010 Sunday Times Tech Track 100.

About PKR (www.pkr.com)

PKR is a revolutionary new concept in online poker that has changed the way the game is played.

Featuring stunning real-time 3D graphics and a uniquely engaging and immersive gaming system, PKR brings an unparalleled and previously unseen level of realism to online poker.

Developed by some of the brightest stars in the video games and poker industries, PKR continues to be the most innovative poker room in the world.
For more information on PKR, please visit www.pkr.com

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Poker News Media: Gibraltar Raises Taxes on Online Gambling Companies

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The British territory of Gibraltar has announced that it will be drastically inflating its taxes on all online gambling firms starting in January, a decision that could prove costly for several online poker sites. Online gambling companies are currently paying just a 1% tax in Gibraltar, with a ceiling of £425,000, but starting next month, they’ll be forced into the same 10% tax rate as other Gibraltar businesses pay.

Gibraltar has been an ideal location for many online gambling sites due to the low tax rate and has become something of an “online gambling capital” as a result. Poker rooms such as PartyPoker and 888poker currently hold their headquarters in the territory and the online bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill made the move to Gibraltar in 2009 – a decision that was expected to cost the Treasury of the United Kingdom about £12 million per year.

Gibraltar’s first minister, Peter Caruana, said the tax increase has been called for by Gibraltar government’s decision to conform to European law. "To comply with EU law, we must phase out the tax exempt company in 2010," Caruana said. "However, in order to sustain our successful economic model, we must retain a commitment to a very competitive corporate tax model."

PartyGaming, which owns and operates PartyPoker from Gibraltar, recently released details concerning its long-awaited merger with online gambling giant bwin. PartyGaming said in a statement that it would keep its headquarters in Gibraltar while bwin continues to operate in Austria. Whether the news of the tax increase changes those plans remains to be seen. "We’ve known about this for some time and we’ve factored it in," said PartyGaming spokesman John Shepherd. "The tax is still going to be very low."

According to a report in The Guardian, while online companies will now pay the standard 10% tax rate paid by other businesses, they will still not be subjected to any Value Added Tax (VAT), meaning that Gibraltar will remain an attractive setting for gambling companies. VAT is a consumption tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service – similar to the state sales tax that most U.S. residents pay.

Many experts seem confident that the tax increase won’t cause companies like PartyGaming to flee to other locations. Victor Chandler, Chairman of independent bookmaker Victor Chandler International, expressed his assurance in an interview with regional newspaper El Pais: "Nobody will leave, although we’ll all complain about the tax going up." Chandler began his U.K.-based company in 1946 that does much of its business online, including sports betting, casino games, and poker.

The decision will likely add up to big things for Gibraltar in the near future. Under the current 1% tax rate, Gibraltar collected £10.5 million in revenue from online gambling taxes in 2009. So long as online gambling firms decide to stay put, the government can expect to see that number magnify in the coming years.

Online gambling has proven to be an extremely important source of revenue for Gibraltar and it is believed that 2,000 people currently work in the sector, which is around 12% of the island’s workforce. The industry has also helped to protect the local economy against neighboring Spain’s harsh economic conditions. Of Gibraltar’s 30,000 residents, only 600 (2%) are unemployed. The bordering Spanish city of La Línea de la Concepción is estimated to have 10,000 of its 65,000 inhabitants (15%) out of work. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

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