![\"bwin](\"http://old.pokerati.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/party-rise.png\" "\\"party-rise\\"")
Not everyone is unhappy about the elimination of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the American online poker marketplace. Shares of Bwin/Party soared today on the London Stock Exchange, closing up nearly 35 percent on rather high trading volume.
And while in some ways this graph looks like the inverse of Party Gaming\’s graph in \’06 come the UIGEA and their subsequent, calculated US pullout. But zoom out and you\’ll see today\’s rise for Party (now officially Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment) is merely a token blip in their long-term efforts to get back atop the online gaming world.
![\"party](\"http://old.pokerati.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/party-fall.jpg\" "\\"party-fall\\"")
In fact, they had plummeted rather hard just this month as US legislative efforts began making it seem as if Stars and Tilt would be white-list operators in any future, regulated American online gaming economy.
![\"bwin](\"http://old.pokerati.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/party-dip.jpg\" "\\"party-dip\\"")
Meanwhile, Scarlet got her hands on some detailed equity research from the venerable banking institution Barclay\’s … assessing the impact of of the US DOJ\’s actions on the European gaming market. Good in some spots, not as promising as some might think in others.
Click here to see for yourself.
The \”bull case\” they make, interestingly, is a scenario where both Stars and Tilt end up in full collapse.
The fall in BWin’s share price, earlier this month, was not as a result of poker legislative moves in the US. It was the direct result of the German Govt, looking to impose a prohibitive turnover tax, on their sporting events – which would have greatly affected the sports bit of the business, as Bwin has quite a big exposure to the German mkt.
Good point. I can agree with you that the German tax issue played a key role — probably even the primary role — but still think announcements about parnterships between Stars and Wynn, and Stars playing a role in Nevada lawmaking likely helped press the downtick from the tax issue even further.
Immediate tax problems in one mid-size country + perceived loss of advantage over the entire future American market …? Well that’s not good!