Publicly traded online companies we have selected for monitoring the online gaming market:

• Cryptologic (CRYP)   • Electronic Arts (ERTS)   • GigaMedia (GIGM)   • Ladbrokes PLC (LAD.L)   • NetEase.com Inc (NTES)   • Neteller (NLR.L)   • PartyGaming (PRTY.L)   • Playtech (PTEC.L)   • Perfect World (PWRD)   • Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited (SNDA)   • Sportingbet PLC (SBT.L)   • The9 Limited (NCTY)   • Webzen (WZEN)   • WorldSpreads (WSPR.L)   • 888.com ( 888.L)

The symbols in parenthesis, typically a stock trading symbol for the company, are used below to link into the best information sites we've found for tracking these companies.

Click here to contact us!!

2009 -- the end of Prohibition 2.0?

GObama confesses he enjoys a friendly game of poker!

Watch the YouTube.com videos here and then follow the link to the new White House Office of Public Liason and share your views on online poker and Prohibition 2.0. Do it now!!

PartyGaming News Release December 16, 2008 Discussions with the US Department of Justice:

Quote:

...on the basis of the discussions to-date, PartyGaming expects any settlement with the DoJ to involve a payment by the Company of an amount that is significantly lower than that reported to be paid by Mr Dikshit in today’s Financial Times.  In addition, the Company believes that any such settlement is unlikely to include a criminal plea on the part of the Company or any director.

PartyGaming founder: Dikshit pleads guilty to online betting (December 16, 2008 FT.com story:

The two-year battle between the online gambling industry and US prosecutors reached a significant milestone when Anurag Dikshit, co-founder of PartyGaming, on Tuesday agreed to plead guilty to a charge related to internet betting and pay the US authorities $300m.

...

Judge Jed Rakoff set his sentencing date for two years from Tuesday and could penalise him with up to two years in prison and a year of supervised release.

But people close to Mr Dikshit said they think a jail sentence is highly unlikely, adding that the two-year adjournment in his sentencing was intended to give sufficient time for him to demonstrate he was co-operating with the DoJ.

2009 Events

PartyGaming February 6, 2009 Update highlights:

Quote:

Continued competitive pressures, particularly in poker, where sites that continue to take bets from US customers are distorting the market, and a delay in the launch of the Group’s new loyalty scheme both affected player frequency. These factors contributed to a 14% decline in active player days year-on-year, although they were up 7% versus the previous quarter. Whilst gross revenue fell 7% quarter-on-quarter, the competitive pressures together with promotion costs associated with the relaunch of PartyPoker during the period meant that bonuses and other fair value adjustments to revenue increased to 27% of gross revenue overall, compared with 20% in the previous quarter and 21% in the fourth quarter of 2007. As a result, average yield per active player day was down 6% versus the prior year and down 21% versus the previous quarter.

(more quotes and links here)

 

GigaMedia 2008 Q4 and full year conference call transcript, from March 31st 2009, is available here.

Quote from Arthur's response to a question regarding US regulation:

The fiscal crisis in the United States will certainly be an impetus for the repeal of the prohibition act that was pasted a couple of years ago. It now looks like there will be two bills moving through Congress and the list of supporters is continuing to grow. At the same time there is also movement in California for a state bill to legalize poker in California. We believe that as the only United States written, born and bred software, the only Sarbane Oxley compliant, the only US corporate governance compliant firm that we will not only be the first in-line to receive a US license but also the first to receive actual US operating license. Natural this is an enormous opportunity for us and combined with sponsorship of the US World Series of Poker we believe represents the huge upside for our business.

Cryptologic Changes in 2008:

• February 2008 Cryptologic switched CEOs. Brian Hadfield, a CRYP director took over from Javid Aziz.
• December 4, Javid Aziz informs CRYP that he owns and holds options to buy 1,000,000 ordinary shares in Cryptologic. Javid asks for, among other things, updates on termination payments from WPT and WH for early contract terminations, the terms of poker business transitioin to Boss/GTECH, and more. PokerPulse has published the full letter on the Cryptologic page.
• December 19, SunPoker.com and Omni Casino, part of the Peak Group Malta Ltd. start their move to PlayTech. More details on the Cryptologic page.

Information Site links

**Discussion forums : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NLR.L, • NTES, • PRTY.L, • PTEC.L, • SBT.L, • SNDA, • WZEN, • 888.L

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**Google news : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NLR.L, • NTES, • PRTY.L, • PTEC.L, • PWRD, • SBT.L, • SNDA, • WSPR.L, • WZEN, • 888.L

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**Nasdaq Real-Time Stock Info : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN

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**PokerPulse about pages: • CRYP, • GIGM, • Mahjong, • Pachinko, • PRTY

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**StockCharts : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN

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AmericanBulls / BritishBulls : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PRTY.L, • PTEC.L , • SNDA, • WZEN, • 888.L

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Knobias (breaking news updates): • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN

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Seeking Alpha -- an excellent source for conference call transcripts: • CRYP, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN
Note: 2007 Q4 GIGM conference call transcript is available here for free. The GIGM Q2 2008 conference call transcript is available here for free.

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ShortSqueeze.com™ ratings : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN

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Smart Money : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN

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www.earningsWhisper.com : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • NCTY, • NTES, • PWRD, • SNDA, • WZEN

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Yahoo Quotes (All) : • CRYP, • ERTS, • GIGM, • LAD.L, • NCTY, • NLR.L, • NTES, • PRTY.L, • PTEC.L, • PWRD, • SBT.L, • SNDA, • WZEN, • 888.L