Bwin.party Reports Increase in New Player Sign-ups After "Black Friday"

Published on 2011-05-09 16:23:00

According to bwin.party digital entertainment plc CEO Jim Ryan, Party Poker experienced a 33% surge in new player sign-ups during the last two weeks of April.

After "Black Friday" took place on April 15th, many industry observers figured that Party Poker would reap the benefits of a leveled playing field after Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker pulled out of the US.

According to PokerScout.com, traffic on Party Poker jumped 9% in the first weekend after "Black Friday" before leveling off.

Unfortunately for Party Poker, Pokerstars was able to quickly stabilize their operation and pay out US players. Some had feared that Pokerstars might go under as a result of "Black Friday", or at the very least have their reputation severely compromised - instead, it seems as though it's now business as usual at the world's largest online poker room.

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Another interesting note from bwin.party digital entertainment plc's "Q1 2001 Pro Forma KPIs and Interim Management Statement" - the company's Q1/2011 poker revenues were down 14% from last year due to "competitive pressures". In addition, their average daily poker revenue was down 4% from the previous quarter.

On the other hand, their sports betting and casino revenues were both up over last year. It's interesting to note that poker now makes up less than 25% of bwin.party's revenue mix.

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It is going to be interesting to see the impact of "Black Friday" on bwin.party's business 6-12 months from now. I don't expect that it is going to be the bonanza of new business that people initially thought it might be.

bwin.party is now trading at 146.00 per share, which is well off of its post-"Black Friday" highs. The company's shares closed at 131.00 the day before "Black Friday".

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Filed Under: Poker Room News