Speculation in the online casinos industry was mounting last week in preparation for Party Gaming's announcement of its first quarter results. The results were widely predicted to raise the bar for online casinos and sure enough, the firm didn't disappoint. Its revenue from online casinos is up by 54 percent to almost 200 million pounds sterling in the first three months of 2006 and its poker revenue has broken new records.
The results from the online casinos firm have also proved that its goal of establishing new markets has been highly successful. 39 percent of the new players that have signed up so far reside outside the U.S. The online casinos firm has been concentrating on reducing its dependence on the U.S. market for some time now, following further attempts to push through a total ban on online casinos in the U.S. Senate. Previously American casino players accounted for over 80 percent of Party Gaming's revenues.
Andrew Lee, an analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, says that the "impressive" first quarter revenues of the online casinos firm exceeded City expectations. He predicts that if subsequent quarters yield similar results to the first, the online casinos firm could report total earnings of approximately 427 million pounds for 2006.