By Adam Ulick | July 7, 2010

PartyGaming, parent company of PartyPoker, released advance guidance for its second quarter financials this week, forecasting slightly lower revenues versus the previous quarter.

Now reporting results in Euros instead of the United States Dollar, PartyGaming expects total revenues across all of its business units for the quarter comprised of April, May, and June to be down 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010.  The company cites seasonality and the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament as the primary reasons for the small dip.  The seasonality effect is always expected – as the weather gets warmer, people spend less time inside and therefore less time at their computers on PartyPoker or PartyGaming’s other sites.  As for the World Cup, it seems that that had a similar effect; PartyGaming’s customers’ eyes have been trained on their television sets, taking them away from the computer.  The topsy-turvy World Cup has, however, given a boost to the company’s sports betting revenue.

Despite the revenue drop from the first quarter, revenues are still up 28 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.  Since the end of the April, PartyGaming says results have been in line with expectations.  Had the financial results been reported in U.S. Dollars, all would be lower.

PartyPoker, as has been the case over the last several quarters, is the laggard amongst the company’s business units, with revenues expected to be down between 11 and 13 percent.  This decline is the combined result of an 8 to 9 percent drop in average daily players and lower yields per player.  Additionally, PartyPoker has not seen the expected return on its marketing investment in Italy, as the new licensing structure for legal online poker in the country has been delayed and is not expected to launch until the fourth quarter of 2010.  PartyPoker’s new French site, PartyPoker.fr, has seen solid performance since it launched on July 1st.

Casino, as usual, has done well, even doing better – 6 percent better – than the first quarter, which is generally seasonally stronger than the second quarter.  Daily average player numbers are down, but player yield is up and currency exchanges have been favorable.

Bingo and sports betting should be about neutral, with not much of a change in either direction from last quarter.

“We are pleased with the relatively robust performance of our business compared to many other consumer facing businesses in what remains a challenging economic environment,” said Jim Ryan, PartyGaming’s Chief Executive Officer.  “Overall the Group has performed in-line with expectations even though the adverse impact of the World Cup on our non-sports betting verticals was slightly greater than expected.”

Addressing the ever-present question of the U.S. market, Ryan added, “The World Poker Tour is performing in-line with our expectations and we believe that this asset, combined with the strength of the PartyPoker brand and the resolution of our US legacy issues ensures that we are well-positioned should online gaming become regulated in the US. In this respect, discussions are progressing well with a number of potential US-based gaming partners.”

PartyPoker is currently ranked third in the industry in cash game traffic, according to PokerScout.com.  With a seven-day average of 3,600 cash game players, it is just slightly ahead of the iPoker network, which has an average of 3,350.

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