America Employing Protectionist Measures, Says PartyGaming Chief

2006 September 11, Jonny Vincent

As the online gaming industry was rocked Thursday with the news that SportingBet Chairman Peter Dicks was arrested in New York, PartyGaming Chief Executive Mitch Garber yesterday issued a thinly veiled attack on the manner in which the US Justice Department is pursuing offshore gambling operators who target US customers.

After learning of Dicks' arrest, Garber stated: "We are a FTSE 100-compliant company. If the department of justice has any issue with our business, I would hope they would notify us and communicate that with us fully."

Garber was also hopeful his company would be licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, which would add regulatory legitimacy to the world's largest online gambling group.

PartyGaming is the parent company of Party Casino and Party Poker, the world's largest online poker room.

Many of the industry's companies are licensed in offshore territories, and are not subject to regulation in the main markets in which they operate. Garber praised the British authorities for their "progressive" attitude to online gambling, and attacked countries that appeared to be seeking to protect their domestic industries, at the expense of overseas-licensed operators: "They are penalising companies for being innovative and for their speed of growth - which is often faster than governments can cope with. All these countries have gaming themselves: casinos, racetracks and the like ... All we want is regulation."

Mitch Garber was speaking after PartyGaming reported a 74% increase in first-half earnings, an increase largely due to new products launched and strong growth outside the North American market. Net profit for the first half of 2006 was $298 million, up $127 million from the first half of 2005. Despite the promising growth figures, shares in PartyGaming fell almost 10% following the news of Peter Dicks' arrest.

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