Spoiling tactics will not delay entry to Danish market for Party Gaming

Party Gaming chief executive Jim Ryan addressed a number of questions on operational issues facing Party Gaming during his post-results press conference Friday, and one of these concerned the disruption of the Party Gaming – Danske Spil agreement to partner going into a newly liberalised Danish gambling market.
Licensing in Denmark comes into full effect in January 2011, and the b2b partnership would have seen state monopoly Danske Spil provided with online poker and casino products by Ryan’s company. The wheels temporarily came off the project two months ago when rival software producer Playtech launched a successful spoiler complaint in which it claimed that mandatory tender procedures had not been adhered to .
Whilst not making any direct commitments in regard to the Danish market, Ryan stressed that the Party Gaming platform is fully geared up and ready for a Danish launch, and that it may not necessarily include Danske Spil.
“We positioned ourselves hopefully to do business with Danske Spil in future,” Ryan revealed. “At this point in time, we have nothing to announce, but what I can tell you is that we are readying the Party Gaming platform, to launch in Denmark on January 1 2011.”
He added that the trend for European governments to start regulating online gambling represented a good opportunity for his company to grow and compete more effectively with online poker majors like Pokerstars and Full Tilt, which had been taking advantage of Party Gaming’s withdrawal from the US market to build their businesses.
Describing online poker as an intensely competitive market, Ryan said: “However, as we move into regulated markets, particularly ring fenced regulated markets, where competitors can’t bring worldwide liquidity into the equation to compete, we have a level playing field, an opportunity to invest freely in advertising and these factors equal growth.”

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