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I was kicked out of the writer's workshop I just joined. I got the email this morning and my jaw dropped to the floor. The original group of eight had been together for two years. Apparently, the group wasn't unanimous to replace the three people who left with new members since they were all, more or less, at the same writing level. Their issue with me wasn't my writing ability (thank goodness) but with my being new and half their age and as such I got kicked out with the rest of them. What does this have to do with gambling? Nothing. I just thought I would mention it since I mentioned the writer's workshop in a previous article. I'm also feeling a tad bitter and wanted to vent. Speaking of bitter, before I get into this article I have a rant. What is with all of the different message boards, portals, and supposed news agencies in the online gambling industry and the new Congress elections? Every place I look online I find another gambling site going on about how the Republicans are going to lose in the upcoming elections. Now that may be true, but then they go on and add that perhaps this is the US people's way of speaking out against the new anti-internet gambling ban. They must be joking. What type of egos do these people have? While I won't deny that there's a definite group in the US who are bummed out about the new anti-internet gambling legislation I seriously doubt the group is big enough to change the fate of an election. The change of power in Congress from Republican to Democrat has nothing, or very little, to do with online gambling. That was just a bi-product of the abuse of power that was rampant in Congress. This is my statement to the online gambling industry and you can quote me, "Get over it. It isn't all about you." Rant over. In my annoyance at being kicked out of the writers group, and general infuriation at the internet gambling industry at large, I stupidly went to check out the state of internet gambling stocks and got myself even more depressed and annoyed. PartyGaming is down to 30p. Ouch. My self-reverie for the past week has left me distracted and I didn't keep up with all of the news. I actually missed PartyGaming posting their third quarter results on October 20th. Shocking, but I think understandable. PartyGaming did their best to put on a happy face while announcing what will probably be the last of the good results for their company in many quarters to come. Their highlights were as follows: • "Group revenue up 53% to $337.2m (2005: $220.0m); Group revenue from non-US facing operations up 158% to $92.0m (2005: $35.6m) Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer, has recently commented on the results stating: “The impact of the recently passed legislation in the US has changed the shape of our business fundamentally. On 13 October 2006, following the SAFE Port Act being passed into law, the Group suspended all of its real money gaming operations with players located in the US, thereby becoming an exclusively non-US online gaming business. Whilst the US has historically represented the majority of the Group’s revenues and profits, I am pleased to report that our non-US business continued to deliver strong growth in the quarter with revenues up 158% year on year to $92.0m, active player days up 141% to 4.1m and the number of unique active players up 161% to 331,520. “Given the change in our business environment, the Group has already moved swiftly to reduce its cost base. Notwithstanding this, it is expected that the Group’s Clean EBITDA margin for the full year will be significantly lower than it was in the first half of 2006, reflecting the one-off costs of rationalizing our business as well as the fixed nature of certain costs that were previously absorbed by a much larger revenue base. “PartyGaming is a highly dynamic business, one that has proved time and again its ability to adapt to new challenges and new environments. The Group has some of the most talented people in online gaming and we are determined to play to our strengths: offering consumers online brands they can trust, using the very best technology and supported by outstanding customer service.” Things are going to be hurting for awhile for PartyGaming. The good news is, with the shut down of the US market the industry is consolidating at a much faster pace, leaving less companies to go after the rest of the world's players. Posted on: October 31, 2006
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