PartyGaming Acquires World Poker Tour Enterprises

One of the world's oldest and largest online gambling companies, PartyGaming Plc, made headlines this week after buying gambling firm, World Poker Tour Enterprises Inc (WPT), for a cash consideration of $12.3 million, its first U.S. acquisition since it was forced out of America in 2006.

Under the terms of the deal, over and above the cash consideration, PartyGaming will also have to partake in an ongoing revenue share in the amount of no less than $3 million over the next three years. As part of the acquisition, PartyGaming has acquired all of WPT's business interests as well as its assets.

These include t0he World Poker Tour TV show, which is broadcast on Fox Sports in the United States, and popular online poker club, Club WPT.com. Although a private investor, Gamynia Limited, was touted to buy WPT for $9 million, WPT executives deemed PartyGaming's to be 'financially superior'.

When the U.S. Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in October 2006, with the sole objective of preventing Americans from gambling online, PartyGaming was one of many large online gambling companies that immediately withdrew from the once-lucrative country.

Though UIGEA did not prevent American online gamblers from gambling online, it did make it illegal for U.S. banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions from processing online gambling-related payments. So even if they wanted to gamble online, U.S. players could not fund their casino accounts.

Despite PartyGaming's U.S. withdrawal, it was subject to prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice, who sought reparations from the firm for the period when it operated in America. As a result, in April this year the firm agreed to pay U.S. authorities $105 million in semi-annual instalments until September, 2012.