PartyGaming News

[Casinonews]

22.03.2006

Directorate Change
22/03/2006

PartyGaming Plc 22 March 2006 22 March 2006 PartyGaming Plc Mitchell A. Garber Appointed as Chief Executive Officer PartyGaming Plc, the world's leading online gaming company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mitchell A. Garber as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 19 April 2006.

Mr Garber succeeds Richard Segal, who will help oversee an orderly transition of his duties and then leave PartyGaming at the time of the Group's Annual General Meeting on 4 May 2006.

Mr Garber has 14 years of high-level operational experience in gaming, financial services and technology businesses and in the running of listed companies on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Exchange. He also has significant other public market experience including mergers and acquisitions, public fund raisings and IPOs.

Commenting on Mr Garber's appointment, Michael Jackson, Non-Executive Chairman of PartyGaming, said: "The Board is delighted to have appointed Mitch, who has a strong and multi-disciplined track record, to succeed Richard, who has established PartyGaming as the world leader in online gaming and as a FTSE 100 company. He brings a wealth of experience gained on both sides of the Atlantic that will be important in helping strengthen PartyGaming's position as a leading global company in the online sector."

Mr Garber said: "PartyGaming's achievements in its short life are amazing and on a par with the likes of the other internet majors. The recent launch of the fully integrated, Party-branded platform together with PartyCasino.com, the new product pipeline and the plans to offer multi-lingual and multi-currency online poker are clear evidence of the energy, drive and aspirations that run throughout PartyGaming. This is a great business and I look forward to working with my new colleagues."

Contacts:
PartyGaming Plc +44 (0)20 7337 0100 Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor Relations John Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113 Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke Notes to Editors: Until earlier this month, Mr Garber was Executive Chairman of FireOne Group plc, a leading provider of payment processing services to the online gaming industry.

FireOne was partly demerged from Optimal Group Inc. and floated on AIM in June 2005. Mr Garber was simultaneously Executive Vice President of Optimal Group Inc., the Nasdaq-listed payments processing and services company and owner of 76% of FireOne. He was also President and CEO of Optimal Payments Inc., the largest subsidiary of Optimal Group, which he built into a $5 billion payment processing business in less than two years.

Mr Garber oversaw the development of FireOne into a business that today has approximately 700,000 customers and provides services to more than 300 online gaming operators that run more than 1,500 websites. FireOne processes in excess of US$1 billion of transactions on an annualised basis. In the year ended 31 December 2005, FireOne reported EBITDA growth of more than twice that of the prior year. Most recently, FireOne has been pursuing geographical expansion and new product development that includes multi-lingual, multi-currency offerings to its customers. Prior to the IPO of FireOne, Mr Garber was President and CEO of Terra Payments Inc., which was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. He oversaw the successful merger of Terra Payments with Optimal Group in April 2004. A graduate of McGill University in Montreal and of the University of Ottawa, Mr Garber is a qualified attorney and from 1990 to 1999 developed the first gaming law practice in Canada whilst at Lazarus, Charbonneau, Attorneys, a Montreal-based law firm.

He advised several leading US casino operators and equipment suppliers, including MGM Grand, Caesars, Hilton, and International Game Technology. He has also advised governments on legislative and regulatory frameworks, sits on the Editorial Board of the Gaming Law Review and is a member of the International Association of Gaming Attorneys. Heidrick & Struggles, a global search firm, was instructed by PartyGaming to assist in the search for a new Chief Executive Officer.

A number of potential candidates were identified and interviewed by a committee of the Board's Non-Executive Directors. There is no further information in relation to Mitchell Garber required to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules.

About PartyGaming Plc
Founded in 1997, PartyGaming Plc is the world's leading online gaming company and owns and operates PartyPoker, the world's largest online poker room as well as EmpirePoker, MultiPoker, IntertopsPoker and PokerNOW. Other online gaming activities include casino, principally through PartyCasino.com, StarluckCasino.com and also online bingo through PartyBingo.com.

PartyGaming Plc is listed on The London Stock Exchange under the ticker: PRTY. In the year to 31 December 2005, the Group had revenues of $977.7m and generated Clean EBITDA of $583.7m and profit before tax of $324.9m. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[Newsflash]

19.04.2006
New CEO Joins Today

PartyGaming Plc 19 April 2006 19 April 2006 PartyGaming Plc ("PartyGaming" or the "Company") Chief Executive Officer Further to the announcement made by the Company on 22 March 2006, Richard Segal has today stepped down both as the Chief Executive Officer and as a Director of the Company. As disclosed previously, Mr. Segal will remain an employee of the Company until 4 May 2006 to assist with the orderly transition of his duties to the new Chief Executive Officer. Mitchell A. Garber's appointment as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company takes effect from today following his relocation to Gibraltar.

In accordance with the terms of his share option grant letter and under the terms of the PartyGaming Plc Share Option Plan, Mr. Garber has today been granted an option over 27 million shares of 0.0015p each in PartyGaming ("Shares"). This is a nil-cost option which on exercise will be satisfied from existing Shares held by PartyGaming's employee trust and no consideration has been paid for the grant of this option. The option will be exercisable (subject to the Company's dealing code) until 19 April 2016 and will vest in regular tranches until 19 April 2010.

Vesting of the option in respect of 20 million Shares will be subject to PartyGaming achieving certain total shareholder return performance targets against both the FTSE 100 index and a comparator group of listed companies. Mr. Garber currently has no other interest in the Company's share capital. Contacts: PartyGaming Plc +44 (0)20 7337 0100 Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor Relations John Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113 Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke About PartyGaming Plc Founded in 1997, PartyGaming Plc is the world's leading online gaming company and owns and operates PartyPoker, the world's largest online poker room as well as EmpirePoker, MultiPoker, IntertopsPoker and PokerNOW.

Other online gaming activities include casino, principally through PartyCasino.com, StarluckCasino.com and also online bingo through PartyBingo.com. PartyGaming Plc is listed on The London Stock Exchange under the ticker: PRTY. In the year to 31 December 2005, the Group had revenues of $977.7m and generated Clean EBITDA of $583.7m and profit before tax of $324.9m. Regulated and licensed by the Government of Gibraltar, the Group has over 1,300 employees located in the head office and operations centre in Gibraltar, a business process outsourcing operation in Hyderabad, India and a marketing services subsidiary in London. The Group has customers in over 190 countries. PartyPoker.com hosted over one billion hands of poker in 2005 with a total amount wagered of $45.8 billion and regularly supports up to 80,000 people playing online at any one time. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[Newsflash]

23.05.2006

Directorate Change

PartyGaming Plc 23 May 2006 23 May 2006 PartyGaming Plc Board Changes and New Management Structure PartyGaming Plc, the world's leading online gaming company, today announces two Board changes and a consequent reorganisation of senior management roles to reflect the continued development of the Group. The Board has accepted a request from Anurag Dikshit, Group Operations Director and one of the original founders of PartyGaming, that he step down from the Board in order to focus on the development of new products and platforms with the objective of further enhancing PartyGaming's leading position in online gaming as Head of Research and Special Projects.

Mr. Dikshit's existing responsibilities will be allocated between Bhagwan Dass Goel, Group Technology Director, and Joel Leonoff, who will be appointed to the revised role of Group Operations Director. Mr. Goel and Mr. Leonoff have both been appointed to the Group's Executive Committee, reporting to Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer. It is not intended that Mr. Dikshit's position on the Board will be filled, thus re-establishing the balance between independent and non-independent directors in compliance with the Combined Code. In addition, Vikrant Bhargava, Group Marketing Director and a founder of PartyGaming, has informed the Board that he wishes to step down from the Board and leave the Company at the end of the year. It is envisaged that, while Mr. Bhargava is keen to pursue a variety of other interests, he will continue to be available to advise the Group after he leaves the Company. Commenting on the changes, Michael Jackson, Chairman of PartyGaming, said: "Today's announcement reflects the continuing transformation of PartyGaming from a small entrepreneurial business into one of the world's leading internet businesses.

[Newsflash]

25.05.2006

Transaction by Director

PartyGaming Plc 25 May 2006 25 May 2006 PartyGaming Plc (The "Company") Notification of a Transaction by a Director The Company was advised on 25 May 2006 that Mr Michael Jackson, Chairman, has today sold 130,000 ordinary shares of 0.0015 pence each in the Company ("Shares ") and that IPM Personal Pension Trustees Limited has today purchased 130,000 Shares on behalf of Mr Jackson. Both transactions were undertaken at a price of 123.75 pence per Share and Mr Jackson's beneficial holding remains unaltered at 862,069 Shares. Enquiries: David Abdoo, General Counsel and Company Secretary +350 78700 Robert Hoskin, Deputy Company Secretary This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[Casinonews]

30.06.2006

Notice of Q2 KPIs & Interims

PartyGaming Plc 30 June 2006 30 June 2006 PartyGaming Plc Notice of Q2 KPIs & Interim results PartyGaming Plc, the world's leading online gaming company, will announce second quarter Key Performance Indicators for the 3 months to 30 June 2006 on Friday 21 July 2006. Mitchell A. Garber, Chief Executive Officer, and Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director, will be hosting an analyst and investor conference call at 9.30am (BST) on 21 July 2006.

In order to ensure access to the call, attendees should please confirm their attendance in advance by emailing Jennifer Alves: [email protected]. Dial-In No: +44 (0)1452 562 815 (UK) +1 866 629 0054 (US) Password: PartyGaming UK Replay no: +44 (0)1452 550 000 (available for 1 week) Replay passcode: 2339315 US Replay no: +1 866 247 4222 (available for 1 week) Replay passcode: 2339315

PartyGaming has revised its indicative date for the announcement of its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2006 to Thursday 7 September 2006. -ends- Contacts: Financial Dynamics +44 (0) 20 7831 3113 Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[Casinonews]

21.07.2006

Q2 Second Quarter Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

PartyGaming Plc 21 July 2006 21 July 2006 PartyGaming Plc ("PartyGaming" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") Second Quarter Key Performance Indicators and Trading Update Highlights

• Group revenue up 49% to $319.3 million (2005: $214.8 million)
• Active player days in poker up 23% to 14.0 million (2005: 11.4 million)
• Real money poker sign-ups of 232,446 (2005: 186,560), of which 46% were from outside the US (2005: 23%)
• Poker net daily revenue of $2.7 million per day (2005 : $2.1 million)
• Casino net daily revenue of $0.8 million per day (2005 : 0.1 million)

Commenting on today's announcement, Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am delighted to announce that PartyGaming's performance in the three months to 30 June 2006 exceeded expectations with both poker and casino delivering strong performances in the seasonally quieter second quarter. I am particularly pleased by our continued international expansion with 46% of our new real money poker sign-ups and 24% of our overall revenue in the quarter coming from outside the US. "The development of our fully integrated platform, enabling customers to play a broad variety of games using a single player account and shared purse, has continued apace.

PartyGammon, our online backgammon game, was launched on schedule last month, PartyBingo was added this month and other new games will be added to the platform during the fourth quarter. "Continuing to drive international expansion remains a clear objective and over the coming months we aim to pursue the growth of our non-US business aggressively, particularly in Europe and South America, where we continue to see a number of attractive opportunities.

The KPIs reported below are consistent with the definitions that were agreed at the recent meeting of online gaming companies held in Gibraltar and announced on 6 July 2006.

Poker - Key Performance Indicators Three months to 30 June 2006
2005 Active player days 13,989,980 11,402,342 Daily average players 153,736 125,300 Yield per active player day $17.4 $17.0 Yield per unique active player in the quarter $250.1 $307.2 New real money sign-ups 232,446 186,560 Unique active players during the period 972,228 630,539 Unique active players in June 601,587 417,533 Average daily revenue (excluding skins) 2,672,450 2,128,546 Six months to 30 June 2006 2005 Active player days 27,946,765 22,343,683 Daily average players 154,403 123,446 Yield per active player day $17.9 $17.8 New real money sign-ups 495,700 400,668 Unique active players during the period 1,249,229 842,382 Average daily revenue (excluding skins) 2,770,388 2,194,652 In the quarter ended 30 June 2006, net poker revenue increased by 21% compared with the previous year to $243.2 million but was down 6% versus the first quarter, reflecting the seasonal pattern seen in previous years.

The Group's marketing effort, across a number of different channels, has continued to drive new real money sign-ups for poker which totalled 232,446 in the period (2005: 186,560), equivalent to 2,554 per day, versus 2,925 per day in the previous quarter. Unique active players also increased strongly, benefiting from the successful reactivation of a number of inactive players during the quarter as well as the addition of players from EmpirePoker.com. Active player days were 23% ahead of the previous year and slightly ahead of the previous quarter, despite the lower frequency of play during the seasonally weaker second quarter. Our concerted drive into territories outside the US has continued in the second quarter with over 46% of our new real money sign-ups coming from outside the US following a particularly strong take-up in Europe.

Over 27% of our poker revenue in the quarter came from outside the US compared with just 15% in the second quarter of 2005 and 24% in the first quarter of the current year. Yield per active player day was $17.4 compared with $18.5 in the previous quarter but was 2% ahead of the same period in 2005, reflecting a reduced amount of time spent playing online during the second quarter. While higher player numbers were unable to offset the impact of the lower yield, resulting in a reduction in average daily revenue (excluding skins) in the quarter to $2.7 million, this was over 25% ahead of that achieved in the second quarter of 2005. Casino - Key Performance Indicators Three months to 30 June 2006 2005 Active player days 2,106,868 164,314 Daily average players 23,152 1,806 Yield per active player day $36.1 $79.7 Yield per unique active player in the quarter $222.6 $488.2 New real money sign-ups 12,734 20,185 Unique active players during the period 341,667 26,823 Unique active players in June 172,629 16,358 Average daily revenue 835,897 143,897 Six months to 30 June 2006 2005 Active player days 4,312,922 333,078 Daily average players 23,829 1,840 Yield per active player day $36.9 $76.4

New real money sign-ups 23,758 34,489 Unique active players during the period 521,158 42,661 Average daily revenue 879,640 140,506 Compared with the previous year, casino revenue in aggregate was up by 481% to $76.1 million reflecting the introduction of blackjack on to partypoker.com in October 2005 and the addition of PartyCasino.com to the integrated platform in February 2006. The amount gambled in our casino business increased substantially to $4.13 billion, up from $460 million the previous year. Compared to the previous quarter, the amount gambled declined from $4.47 billion to $4.13 billion reflecting a seasonally quieter second quarter and a reduction in the amount gambled on blackjack. The yield per active player day fell by 4% to $36.1 from $37.7 in the first quarter due to seasonality and an increase in bonus rates which averaged 11.9% of gross casino revenue during the second quarter, versus 9.3% in the first quarter. The fall in the yield year on year was attributable to the introduction of blackjack on to PartyPoker.com. PartyCasino.com now has 39 individual games that are live and, despite having had limited marketing support so far, it is already attracting an average of over 23,000 real money players per day.

Consolidated Key Performance Indicators As previously announced, the Group intends to begin to report KPIs on a consolidated basis to take into account the launch of the integrated platform and shared purse. Going forward PartyGaming will present all of its KPIs on a consolidated basis so that real money sign-ups, daily average players, unique active players, active player days, yield per unique active player and yield per active player day will be provided on a consolidated basis as well as for poker, casino and emerging games separately.

The consolidated KPIs for the second quarter 2006 and the comparable period in 2005 are shown below (comparable data for each quarter since the beginning of 2004 is available at www.partygaming.com /investor/documentation.html). Three months to 30 June 2006 2005 Active player days 14,478,235 11,566,656 Daily average players 159,101 127,106 Yield per active player day $22.1 $17.9 Yield per unique active player in the quarter $318.2 $314.6 New real money sign-ups 245,254 206,745 Unique active players during the period 1,003,599 657,362 Unique active players in June 621,805 433,891 Average daily revenue (excluding skins) $3,508,821 $2,272,443 Six months to 30 June 2006 2005 Active player days 28,840,802 22,676,761 Daily average players 159,341 125,286 Yield per active player day $22.9 $18.6 Yield per unique active player in the period $507.8 $477.6 New real money sign-ups 519,532 435,157 Unique active players during the period 1,301,073 885,043 Average daily revenue (excluding skins) $3,650,266 $2,335,158 Unique active players increased by 53% on the comparable quarter in 2005 to over 1 million players, with substantial increases experienced in all geographic segments.

Europe performed particularly strongly with a 237% increase in unique active players to 171,531. Active player days in the second quarter increased by 25% versus the same quarter in 2005 driven by continued growth in the size of the active player base, partially offset by a small reduction in the average frequency of play. Yield per active player day in the quarter increased by 23% to $22.1 reflecting the positive impact from cross-selling higher yielding casino games such as blackjack to PartyPoker players. As a result, average daily revenue increased sharply to $3.5m per day, up from $2.3m in 2005. Current Trading As we begin the second half, we continue to develop our poker business. The commencement of the World Series of Poker on 25 June 2006, together with the launch of a new multi-million dollar tournament called "Party Poker Monster", which is expected to have the largest ever prize pool online, should both be positive for our poker business over the coming months.

While bonus rates in casino are expected to increase from current levels, the marketing launch of PartyCasino.com should benefit the Group in the second half of the year. Continuing to drive international expansion remains a clear objective and over the coming months we aim to pursue the growth of our non-US business aggressively, particularly in Europe and South America, where we continue to see a number of attractive opportunities. New Debt Facility In order to give the Group additional financial flexibility, the Group has replaced its existing $200 million credit facility with a $500 million multi-currency revolving credit facility, with the following banks participating: Royal Bank of Scotland, Dresdner Kleinwort, Bank of Scotland, West LB and Commerzbank. Contacts: PartyGaming Plc +44 (0)20 7337 0100 Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor Relations John Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113 Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke Video interview with Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer Friday 21 July 2006 A video interview with Mitch Garber covering the KPIs and Group strategy is available from 7.00am today on www.partygaming.com and www.cantos.com. Conference call Friday 21 July 2006 For analysts and investors there will be an opportunity to put questions to Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer and Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director, by way of a conference call to be held at 9.30am on Friday 21 July, 2006.

The details of the call are as follows: Dial-In No: +44 (0) 1452 562 815 (UK) +1 866 629 0054 (US) Password: PartyGaming UK Replay no: +44 (0) 1452 550 000 (available for 1 week) Replay passcode: 7555664 US Replay no: +1 866 247 4222 (available for 1 week) Replay passcode: 7555664 All times are British Summer Time. Appendix KPI Definitions The KPIs reported are consistent with those used previously and with the definitions that were agreed at the recent meeting of online gaming companies held in Gibraltar and announced on 7 July 2006. Active player days Aggregate number of days in the given period in which active players have contributed to rake and/or placed a wager. This can be calculated by multiplying average active players by the number of days in the period Yield per active player day Net gaming revenue excluding skins in the period divided by the number of active player days in that period Unique active player A player who has contributed to rake and/or placed a wager in the period.

Yield per unique active player Net gaming revenue excluding skins (net of customer bonuses and other fair value adjustments to revenues) divided by the number of unique active players in the period. Real money sign-up A new player who has registered and deposited funds into an account with the company. Customers are categorised between lines of business according to where they first register on the gaming site to address the issues posed by shared purse. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[Casinonews]

03.08.2006

Acquisition of Gamebookers

PartyGaming, the world's leading online gaming company, announces today that it has acquired the business and assets of Gamebookers, an online sports betting business, from Trident Gaming PLC ("Trident") for an estimated net cash consideration of €102 million (after estimated working capital adjustments of €3.0 million). Of the net consideration, €81 million is payable on completion and €21 million is payable in 18 months (less any potential claims under the acquisition agreement).

Established in 1999, Gamebookers provides online sports betting in 12 languages and has more than 250,000 registered customers in 140 countries and 53,318 active customers.
It does not accept bets from customers based in the US. The business offers single, combination and live bets on a wide range of international sporting events. In the 12 month period ended 31 December 2005, the business took over 25 million sports bets, equivalent to an average of 124 bets per customer per month, with an average bet size of €7.1.

The business also operates a small but growing online casino, and recently added a poker room. Gamebookers' sports betting activities currently operate under an Antiguan gaming license and the majority of the operations, risk management and customer services are run by a cost-effective in-house processing centre in Bulgaria. In the year ended 31 December 2005, Gamebookers took wagers (net of bonuses) of €179.4 million, generated gross win of €10.1 million, and produced an EBITDA of €4.6 million.

PartyGaming expects the business to generate an EBITDA of between €8.0 million and €9.0 million in the current year (before the benefits of cross-selling), reflecting the operational improvements made following a change of ownership in July 2005 and increased investment in marketing in the first half of 2006.

Gamebookers' active customer numbers have been growing strongly and rose from 26,818 in the quarter ended 30 June 2005 to 53,318 in the quarter ended 30 June 2006, with the number of bets placed per month also increasing strongly over the same period. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for PartyGaming in the current financial year.

The foregoing statement should not be interpreted as a profit forecast or to mean that PartyGaming's future earnings per share will necessarily be greater than or equal to its historical earnings per share. Commenting on the acquisition, Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer of PartyGaming, said: "The acquisition of Gamebookers is an important step forward in diversifying PartyGaming's business from both a product and geographic perspective.

Gamebookers is a well-established and profitable operator with proven risk management skills and scaleable proprietary software. We believe that sports betting will be a valuable addition to our integrated gaming platform, which we expect to provide excellent cross-selling opportunities for our expanding base of customers outside the US."

Contacts PartyGaming Plc Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director +350 78700 John Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications +44 (0)20 7337 0100 Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113 Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke

Notes For Gamebookers, registered customers are customers who have registered their personal details with Gamebookers and active customers are registered customers who have placed a bet in a given quarter.

About PartyGaming Plc
Founded in 1997, PartyGaming Plc is the world's leading online gaming company and owns and operates PartyPoker.com, the world's largest online poker room, as well as EmpirePoker.com. Other online gaming activities include casino, principally through PartyCasino.com and StarluckCasino.com, online bingo through PartyBingo.com and backgammon on PartyGammon.com. PartyGaming Plc is listed on The London Stock Exchange under the ticker: PRTY. In the year to 31 December 2005, the Group had revenues of $977.7m and generated Clean EBITDA of $583.7m and profit before tax of $324.9m. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[Casinonews]

29.08.2006

Results Webcast & Conf Call

PartyGaming Plc, the world's leading online gaming company, will announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2006 on Thursday 7 September 2006. The Group will be hosting an analyst meeting for invited UK-based analysts on the day of the results and there will be a simultaneous webcast and dial-in broadcast of the meeting.

To register for the live webcast, please pre-register on the PartyGaming website (www.partygaming.com). Details for the dial-in facility are given below and a copy of the webcast and slide presentation given at the meeting will be available on the Group's website during the day on 7 September 2006. For international investors and analysts, there will also be an interactive conference call starting at 2.30pm BST, details of which are set out below.

An interview with Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer and Martin Weigold, Group Finance Director, in video/audio and text will also be available from 7.00am BST on 7 September 2006 on: www.partygaming.com and on www.cantos.com.

Dial-in details to listen to the analyst presentation: 7 September 2006 9.20 am Please call +44(0)20 7138 0835 (UK) 9.30 am Meeting starts

A recording of the meeting will be available for a period of seven days from 7 September 2006.