Party Poker Returning to the USA?
When the Safe Ports Act was signed into law on October 13th 2006, the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) also came into
existence as a provision of that law. Consequently, a lot of major
players in the on line casino business shuttered their US operations in
anticipation of required complacency with that law. Since then, very
little has come of UIGEA and the two biggest on line poker / gambling
locations on the net, Full Tilt and PokerStars have set records on a
regular basis with apparently little push back from US law enforcement.
Well, it seems that PartyGaming is getting set to relaunch their US operations. Why
now? Why after 4 years of staying away from the American market do they
want to come back? When they pulled out of the US market, they were
the world leaders in on line gambling. It seems that they assumed that
if they pulled out, others would follow and the US would be a veritable
wasteland for on line poker. This bet failed, and they lost huge market
share. Now, PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan is quoted as saying “We are
seeing increased momentum towards regulating on line poker” …” it’s
possible that it could happen this year and we’re prepared if it does.”
But, with the House Financial Services Committee postponing their last
scheduled meeting regarding Chairman Barney Frank’s Bill’s, and no new
date set before the June 1st deadline of UIGEA coming into effect is
this a realistic stance? Even if it is, it’s been 4 long years since
Americans could play PartyPoker, how much of Full Tilt’s and PokerStar’s
market share is a realistic goal for PartyGaming? I guess until June
1st, we’ll have to continue waiting and see.
