Party Gaming Under Scrutiny

Information has been rising to the surface this week in connection to Party Gaming for reasons that that most likely have something to do with the company’s involvement in the US gambling market before the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Taking charge of the investigation is the US Department of Justice as they are currently enquiring into past actions of the founders of Party Gaming.

Information coming from the website OCN, which has connections to unspecified industry sources, states that the enquiries have followed discussions between the Party Gaming founders and US authorities regarding the group’s liability to prosecution for pre UIGEA activities.

Party Gaming, along with a myriad of other gaming groups, had nearly all of its business flowing in from the United States, since America has consistently had the largest market for online gambling in the world for years now. They were hit extremely hard when President George Bush signed the UIGEA into official US federal law in October of 2006. Upon the passing of the discriminatory legislation, Party Gaming removed their business from the US market and has made a remarkable comeback by branching out to different geographic regions. Party Gaming has also invested in new gaming products which have also proved successful.

“Passage of UIGEA was a blow to our business for sure, but our group has absorbed and now recovered from this incident,” said Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer last December. “PartyGaming.com is no longer a poker-led, US-dependent and one language gaming operator. We are rapidly becoming a multi-lingual and multi-currency non-US company.”

Ever since the big UIGEA shakeup, the management over at Party Gaming has undergone some significant changes. Longtime CEO Richard Segal stepped down in 2006 and was replaced by incumbent CEO Mitch Garber.

Party Gaming was founded in 1997 by Anurag Dikshit, Vikrant Bhargava, Ruth Parasol and her husband Russ DeLeon. The low-profile owners made millions of dollars through their venture by making cunning business moves at the precisely correct moments. They sold corporate shares of the company during growth surges and are believed to no longer be active board members but mere shareholders. What is known for certain is that Dikshit and Bhargava resigned from their positions as head of group operations and head of marketing, respectively, in 2006. They reportedly continued to consult for the company after stepping down and may still be doing so although this is not confirmed.

PartyGaming.com trades on the London stock exchange and is the official owner of PartyPoker.com. If you play poker and don’t know what Party Poker is, you live in a cave and need to get out more. In February of 2006 they also launched PartyCasino.com along with a new version of partyPoker.com in an effort to full integrate the platforms on their websites. Party Gaming has recently ventured into the worlds of sportsbook, bingo and baccarat.