PartyGaming Stocks Soar, Norwegian Ban set for Mid 2009 and more

PartyGaming Stocks Soar
Following the news we brought you yesterday about PartyGaming founder Anurag Dikshit preparing to plead guilty to breaching the Wire Act of 1961, the companies stocks have skyrocketed and they had one of their best days ever as a publicly traded company. The stocks rose by over 27%, closing the day at 176.50.

Dikshit is set to pay out over $300 million to the US Department of Justice and potentially spend up to two years in jail (which is looking increasingly unlikely). Yesterday PartGaming released a statement saying they expect a settlement with the Department of Justice to cost less than $300 million. Industry experts believe that a settlement with the US could lead to a wave of consolidation in the industry.

888 Holdings, who are currently also in settlement talks with the US Department of Justice, also had a superb day of trading, ending the day up more than 14%. Needless to say it's very hard to predict what will happen next in this case, but we could look back at this story as being a catalyst for the fortunes of online gambling in 2009.

Norwegian Gambling ban to take place mid 2009
More on the news of a Norwegian version of UIGEA being passed last week. The new laws which would prevent Norwegian banks from making transactions with online gaming operators is likely to take effect in the middle of 2009, according to GamblingCompliance.com. This is bad news for some of the biggest online poker players in Scandinavia, including Andreas Hoivold, Annette Obrestad and Johnny Lodden, who all hail from Norway.

John Phan wins Cardplayer Player of the Year award
John Phan has topped off an amazing year yesterday when he was crowned the Cardplayer Player of the Year for 2008. The prestigious award that has previously been won by TJ Cloutier, Daniel Negreanu and Michael Mizrachi was awarded after Michael Binger bust in 67th from the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic, effectively ending any chances he had of overtaking Phan.

Phan had a fantastic year that saw him make 8 final tables, which included winning the WPT Legends of Poker title and winning his first two bracelets at the WSOP, in a $3000 no limit hold'em event and the $2500 deuce-to-seven lowball event. He also came 5th in the Bellagio Cup Main Event. His earnings were in excess of $2 million this year and his career earnings are well over $5 million.

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