by Anton Johan
Party Gaming once ruled the US online gambling market, and its online poker arm, Party Poker held 40% of that market.
All that changed when the US introduced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 and the London based group saw its share prices plummet to rock bottom.
As the group's focus shifted to European markets, share prices started to rise once more.
Over the past few years, investors have seen these shares dip and rise, and dip and rise once more.
Events that have affected the statistics include Party Gaming reaching an agreement with the US Department of Justice and, more recently, its merger with Bwin to create the biggest publicly listed online gambling entity in the form of bwin.partygaming digital entertainments.
But what may see Party Gaming investors smiling for a long time to come was triggered by the US Department of Justice's move to shut down top US facing poker sites, including Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars.
Shares shot up by nearly 40% on the Monday morning after 'Black Friday', April 15th, and analysts believe that there are good times ahead for Party Gaming investors.
The player liquidity advantage that the US-facing poker sites enjoyed has practically disappeared, allowing Party Poker once more to pool US players with non US players and expand further into the European market with its new financial clout.
There are other things that might work in Party Poker's favour in the future. The French and Italian governments may rethink the licenses they granted to Poker Star and Full Tilt, while these groups may find it nearly impossible to earn licenses in European markets that are still in the process of regulation.
Analysts can safely say that the developments in the US add 15 - 20% to the group's EBITDA forecasts, although the negative effects of changes in German gambling tax regulations have to be factored in to these numbers
