As reported by: Bloomberg
PartyGaming Plc, the world's largest online poker company, said second-quarter sales increased 49 percent as more gamblers made wagers on the PartyPoker Web site.

Revenue in the three months ended June 30 climbed to $319.3 million from $214.8 million a year earlier, the Gibraltar-based company said today in a Regulatory News Service statement. Nearly half of new poker customers were located outside the U.S., where the government is cracking down on Internet gaming.

Shares of Web gambling companies including PartyGaming slid in the first two days of this week as U.S. prosecutors indicted online bookmaker Betonsports Plc and ordered the company to stop accepting wagers from the country, its main market. PartyGaming, which has added blackjack and casino games, got about 80 percent of last year's sales from U.S. gamblers.

''Over the coming months we aim to pursue the growth of our non- U.S. business aggressively, particularly in Europe and South America, where we continue to see a number of attractive opportunities,'' Chief Executive Officer Mitch Garber said in the statement.

The 49 percent growth in second quarter sales compares with increases of 54 percent in the first quarter and 63 percent for all of 2005. Second-quarter sales from casino games jumped almost sixfold to $76.1 million, or about a quarter of total revenue.

PartyGaming stock fell 7 pence, or 7.4 percent, to 87.25 pence in London yesterday, cutting the company's market value to about 3.5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion). The shares dropped 22 percent on July 17 and 18. Investors paid 116 pence each for the stock when it was first sold to the public in June 2005.
Article By: Bloomberg