Party Gaming has announced its acquisition of Multi
Poker and Intertops Poker for approximately $19 million.
Intertops will now serve as an affiliate, meaning their
300,000+ players can use the Party Poker tables at will. Although this was two unrelated
transactions, what is related in Party Gaming's quest to
dominate the online poker industry. Now - after
its latest purchase - the Scandinavian market has been
tapped very well.
Party Gaming has shed some more light on what they
may do with Empire Poker's offer to buy them out -
and that is to leave Empire hanging a little longer.
Party Gaming just announced its recent and somewhat
surprising acquisition of Multipoker and
IntertopsPoker, while ending its relationship with
Coral Eurobet. It would actually be more
proper to say that Coral Eurobet ended its
relationship with Party Gaming, and is now seeking
to operate on a totally independent level ( Just
because they may come off as being the most powerful
online poker room in the business, does not mean
that Party Gaming is not the say-all and do-all).
As for Party Gaming's most recent deals, they
went for an approximate price tag of $19 million -
$14.5 million going towards MultiPoker, and $4
million taking care of Intertops. Using Intertops as
an affiliate site for Party Poker now, brings an
approximate 300,000 plus players to Party Poker's
online tables. Even better - as far as Party
Gaming is concerned - is that the acquisitions give
Party Gaming a strong foot in the Scandinavian
market - something which the company has been
planning to do.
The deals caused Party Gaming's stock to jump to
ninety-six pence, which is a 1.6% increase.
Now all that remains before Party Gaming launches
its fully integrated and seamless platform in 2006,
is the shadow of Empire Poker. Empire, which
was Party Pokers biggest affiliate at one point in
time, is staying afloat despite Party Gaming's
announcement that Empire players could not use Party
Poker tables anymore. The decision to acquire
Intertops and Multipoker did not change things much
for Empire, who is still waiting out negotiations
with Party Gaming.
