PartyGaming Plc (lse: PRTY) is an online gambling company, best known for its online poker room PartyPoker.com. It is headquartered in Gibraltar and quoted on the London Stock Exchange. PartyGaming Plc was founded in 1997 with the launch of Starluck Casino. Prior to passage of anti-online gambling legislation by the U.S. Congress, PartyGaming Plc was the world's largest online poker brand (based on ring game revenue and number of players); though its total number of active players has diminished with the loss of its U.S. customers, the company continues to grow with a solid European presence.

History

PartyGaming was founded in 1997 as a network of gambling sites operated by Ruth Parasol in the Caribbean. The network eventually operated under an umbrella company called iGlobalMedia, which then changed its name to PartyGaming. PartyGaming's flagship site, PartyPoker.com, was launched in 2001. Its primary shareholders are Parasol, Group Operations Director Anurag Dikshit, Marketing Director Vikrant Bhargava (who joined the company in 1998 and 1999, respectively), and Russ DeLeon (Parasol's husband, Harvard attorney and serial entrepreneur). The foursome sold over 23% of their combined shares to take the company public on the London Stock Exchange in 2005. Dikshit and Bhargava stepped down from the company's board in May 2006. Dikshit announced that he will remain with the company as COO; Bhargava will continue as an advisor and shareholder of the company while pursuing other business interests.

PartyGaming's holdings include the PartyPoker.com poker site, PartyCasino.com, PartyBingo.com, and Starluck and Planet Luck Casinos. In February 2006 PartyGaming introduced a new integrated platform, enabling multiple games to be played without requiring customers to log in each time and deposit funds in separate accounts. An online backgammon site, PartyGammon.com, was launched in mid-2006. In August 2006 PartyGaming acquired Antigua and Barbuda registered sports betting operator Gamebookers which focuses on the European market.

Due to concerns about the legality of online gambling in various jurisdictions around the world, the company is incorporated in Gibraltar. At one point, U.S. consumers represented around 75% of PartyGaming's revenues. In October 2006, PartyGaming pulled out of the US market following the passing of anti-gambling measures in the Safe Port Act, and the company's share price dropped 60% as a result.

PartyGaming IPO

In June 2005, some of the top shareholders of PartyGaming plc sold 23% of the company's stock in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. The initial offer price of 116p valued the company at £4.64 billion ($8.46 billion). Within a month the share price rose to make the value of the company exceed twelve billion dollars. In early September 2005 a cautious statement about future growth prospects saw the shares fall by a third in a day, but the same week the company was promoted to the FTSE 100 Index. By the end of November 2005 the stock had regained its original IPO value. Profits for 2005 were $325 million before tax.