By Neal Farran | June 19, 2009

PartyGaming continues to move forward full force with its 2009 business plan to grow its online casino brand and focus on business to business deals in order to diversify its holdings. Egaming Review and several other gaming news outlets are reporting that PartyGaming is planning to take over Cashcade sometime in the coming weeks.

Cashcade is a European online gaming company who is best known for their online bingo site, Foxy Bingo. They also control their own online casino, Get Mined. According to their company website, Cashcade has two million registered users between the two sites. They acquired two other Scottish and English online bingo sites in 2007, making them one of the larger online bingo entities in Europe.

It has been rumored that 888.com, the group that owns Pacific Poker, 888.com online casino and Reef Club online casino had been interested in purchasing Cashcade for several months. They also have their own bingo operation called 888ladies.  While 888.com appeared poised to take over Cashcade, these latest reports suggest that PartyGaming is the new frontrunner to acquire the company and expand their own online bingo enterprise.

PartyBingo, the bingo branch of PartyGaming is one of the newest and smallest branches of the PartyGaming empire. While the size of PartyBingo may pale in comparison to PartyGaming’s online casino venture, it still experienced double digit growth last year and is one of the more popular online bingo sites in Europe. Should PartyGaming acquire Cashcade, their online bingo market share would grow even larger.

While there has been no official announcement regarding any sort of deal between the two companies, it would be a step that falls in line with the business plan outlined by PartyGaming Chief Executive Officer Jim Ryan issued in their annual report, which was released in April of this year. Within the report Ryan explained that the current unstable status of online poker in the United States means the company will be spending less time and energy on their popular Party Poker online poker room and instead focus on growing the casino, sports betting, and bingo operations.

Speculations of the Cashcade takeover come hot on the heels of the official news that Party Poker will be working cooperatively with the Five television network in Great Britain to develop and brand a Five-themed online gaming venue. The announcement regarding the new partnership with Five led to a huge jump in PartyGaming stock, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol PRTY. Shares were trading at around £235 prior to the announcement, but jumped as high as £268 by the end of last week.

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