PartyGaming Shares Drop 6%
Just days after announcing strong figures for Q4 2005, PartyGaming’s shares dropped by 6% on the back of profit-taking after the British government announced plans to clamp down on online gaming.
Richard Caborn, the minister responsible for gambling, suggested the possibility of the introduction of international restrictions to protect internet gamblers by saying he would like “to see whether we can look at some international regulation whereby we can look at these issues of problem gambling on the internet”.
The news pulled Party Gaming 8¼p lower at 132¾p, whilst its major rival 888 Holdings dropped 11p to 209p. However, analysts have pointed out that, as both these companies draw a large proportion of their business from America where internet gambling is deemed to be illegal, the impact of any such moves would be limited.
Party Gaming owns and operates PartyPoker and PartyBingo.
