PartyGaming revenue up 32%

Online casino software developer PartyGaming has announced that the quarter sales for the fourth quarter rose by 32% over the previous year and 17% on the previous quarter to 83 million pounds. PartyGaming has confidence in 2010 as trade in January is in line with the expectations of the company.

The strong increase in sales was made possible by the purchase of online bingo and casino operator Cashcade Ltd and World Poker Tour last year. Without these acquisitions sales increased by 12% annually since the online casino games performed well and sports betting operations were influenced by positive sports results. The group also restated their announcement of December that its expected Ebita (earnings of a company before interest and tax) in 2009 is slightly ahead of expectations of the company. PartyGaming will publish the full annual report on March 4.

PartyGaming, the largest publicly traded online gambling casino group in the world, receives most of its revenues from online poker and internet casino gambling and they have a smaller bingo and sports betting company. The company announced Wednesday the appointment of Per Widerstrom as the new COO for the company to help drive growth for all brands of the group. Widerstrom was previously manager of Mangas Gaming Malta Ltd, an online gambling company with a focus on sports betting. Jim Ryan, Director of PartyGaming said: “With some of the world’s largest gaming sites in poker, casino and bingo, and opportunities to further consolidate the online gaming sector, we are confident about our future prospects.”

Last month, PartyGaming confirmed that they are in consolidation talks with several companies in the casino gambling industry. While PartyGaming not indicated which these companies are, though persistent rumours indicate it is online casino group Bwin Interactive Entertainment which, like PartyGaming is based in Gibraltar. The company wants to expand its casino operations to other countries when those countries relax their gambling laws. Ryan said: “Whilst the regulatory picture in some countries remains uncertain, the momentum towards creating commercially viable and regulated markets is strong.”