10th Oct 2005 07:00
PartyGaming Plc10 October 2005 PartyGaming Plc New platform launch PartyGaming Plc ("PartyGaming" or the "Group"), the world's leading onlinegaming company, announces today that it has taken a further step towardsestablishing a new fully integrated PartyGaming operating platform. Thisplatform will, on launch, offer a variety of different games but with a commonsystems architecture allowing each of its nine million registered PartyPokercustomers to use a single account and a shared purse across the Group's gamingbrands. As part of today's development, the Group has moved the PartyPoker.com brand andall of its players to the new platform. Historically, PartyPoker players have shared the same poker-only system withplayers from each of the Group's four white label poker clients or "skins"(being Empire Poker, Coral Eurobet, Multipoker and Intertops). Followingtoday's move, PartyPoker players will now play on their own private tables andbenefit from a number of new and exciting products that are exclusive to the newplatform. The new platform includes non-poker games such as Blackjack, as wellas added features to the poker product such as Side Bets and Deal-Making inpoker tournaments. Once the fully integrated platform is launched in the firsthalf of 2006, players will then be able to click through and play on PartyPoker,PartyCasino and other new PartyGaming products that are currently beingdeveloped, all using a common account and a shared purse. The skins' poker players will continue to have full access to the existing pokersystem. They will also now benefit from the release of several new productenhancements comprising "beginners' tables" - these include "micro-limit tables"and low buy-in tables - and $50/$100 and $100/$200 tables. PokerNOW.com, whichwas acquired by the Group earlier in the year, will continue to operate on theexisting poker system with the skins. Commenting on today's announcement Richard Segal, Chief Executive said: "We are on track to deliver our exclusive Party-branded integrated platformthat will include additional products and services, enabling us to focus onoptimising cross-selling opportunities. We believe that today's development isan important step towards cementing together the inherent strengths of all theParty brands and is in the best interests of our customers and shareholders. Inconjunction with this exciting development, we will continue to maintain andsupport the poker system we provide for the skins." Contacts: PartyGaming Plc +44 (0)20 7337 0100Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor RelationsJohn Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke Notes for Editors About PartyGaming Founded in 1997, PartyGaming Plc is the world's leading online gaming companyand owns and operates PartyPoker.com, the world's largest online poker room.Other online gaming activities include casino, principally throughStarluckCasino.com and also online bingo through PartyBingo.com. Since 30 June 2005, PartyGaming Plc has been listed on The London Stock Exchangeunder the ticker: PRTY. In the year to 31 December 2004, the Group had revenuesof $601.6m (of which skins represented 2.3%) and generated earnings beforeinterest, depreciation and amortisation of $387.8m and profit before tax of$371.7m. Regulated and licensed by the Government of Gibraltar, the Group has over 1,200employees located in the head office and operations centre in Gibraltar, abusiness process outsourcing operation in Hyderabad, India and a marketingservices subsidiary in London. The Group has customers in over 170 countries. PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PartyBingo and PartyGaming are trademarks of thePartyGaming Plc. Side Bets Side Bets are a new and fun way to place wagers based on the outcome of the flopon real money tables. Whether you are a seated player or just watching you canplace a Side Bet on real money Texas Hold'em and Omaha tables. A Side Bet is a bet on whether or not the flop will be all red or all black.The flop is the first three community cards that are dealt in Texas Hold'em andOmaha. All red means that all three cards come up as the colour red (diamondsand / or hearts) and all black means that all three cards come up as the colourblack (spades and / or clubs). Side Bets that are placed will be valid for thenext hand that is being dealt. Blackjack Blackjack is a casino game that is now available on PartyPoker.com. The objective of Blackjack is to accumulate cards with point totals as close to21 without going over 21. The value of a hand is the sum of the point counts ofeach card in the hand. > The cards from 2 through 9 are valued as indicated > Face cards (Jacks, Queens and Kings) are all valued at 10 points > An ace is valued at either 1 point or 11 points > The game is available only in 'Real Money' mode > The minimum bet in the game is $1.00 and the maximum bet is $200.00. Maximum bet applies for the initial bet of the game > Eight decks are used in the Blackjack game and each deck has 52 cards > The deck is shuffled after 10% of the cards in the decks are used > The dealer draws a card on soft 17 and stands on 17 or more > Maximum splits allowed = 3 Deal-Making Seated players at final tables of tournaments (where the only prizes are cashpayouts) will have the ability to stop the game play and make a deal for theremaining prize pool. If a deal is struck then payments will be made. If thedeal is for the entire remaining prize pool then the tournament ends early, ifnot then the game resumes for the balance of the prize pool less the dealamount. PartyGaming will not need a human facilitator for any deal, rather itsimply provides a tool allowing the players to chat, negotiate and settle on adeal should they so wish. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
BPTY.L