Publicly Traded Online Poker Stocks
Publicly traded online poker sites are increasingly commonplace and widely viewed as a great investment because of the increasing popularity of online poker. Some of these publicly traded poker companies' revenue comes completely from their online poker games. Other companies have online poker as just a small part of their revenue. These companies usually have other sites dedicated to online casino gaming. Online card rooms have been listed on various international stock exchanges for about a decade. They compete with privately owned companies who do not have to follow the same regulations. A public company means a company that is allowed to offer its stock and bond securities for sale to the general public, this is usually done through a stock exchange.
Most of the parent companies for online poker rooms trade on the London Stock Exchange. A few of the publically traded poker stocks trade on the NASDAQ. A single online poker stock is traded on each of these markets, the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and the Vienna Stock Exchange.
Recently, the United States passed the Port Act which had a big effect on all of the publicly traded poker companies. The Port Act, which was passed at midnight the day Congress adjourned for the 2006 elections, was a must pass port security bill that did not ever get debated. Included in the Port Act, was Title VIII or the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The UIGEA prohibits money transfers from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site, except those related to fantasy sports, online lotteries, and horse racing.
The UIGEA blind sided poker rooms, causing immediate drops in share prices. For example Party Gaming's stock dropped 60 percent in 24 hours. All publicly traded poker rooms were forced to leave the United States market and most of the e-wallets (online banks) that transferred funds between the players and the sites closed their doors to the US. Because the US player base made up for a large percentage of the online poker players, these companies all suffered considerable financial losses. In the short term, privately held companies like Full Tilt Poker who stayed in the US market saw a huge influx of new players. Pokerstars, which was about to go public with an initial public offering (IPO), held off on doing so after the UIGEA passed and has since risen to the number 1 poker room in the world overtaking the publicly owned Party Poker. Recently, efforts to reverse the UIGEA are underway and it's likely the return of these companies to the US market will happen in the future with government regulations.
Publicly traded online gambling sites have the advantage of being able to raise additional capital in a short amount of time by issuing stocks and bonds. Publicly traded companies will likely use their capital for acquisitions and mergers with competitors. The size of an online poker room is its strength. Players migrate towards online poker sites that have a large player base so they can enter larger prize pool tournaments and can easily find an available cash game at the limit they want to play. One recent merger was between two top 10 online poker rooms, UltimateBet and Absolute poker. After the merger, they still operate two different rooms but have integrated their management. Another type of acquisition that may become more commonplace is online casino gambling or sporting bet sites adding online poker rooms to their product lines. For example, Sportingbet's acquisition of Paradise Poker that added a major poker room to Sportingbet's popular sports betting and casino game site.
Expect major revenue increases for publicly traded online gambling sites to be the idea of cross marketing their products. Having online casino patrons playing internet poker at their sites while having the poker players try casino games and sports betting. Publicly traded companies face pressure from investors to maximize revenue and cross marketing casino table games, sports betting, poker, slots, and more to a targeted market will satisfy investors that the gambling site is being opportunistic. For example, the struggling World Poker Tour Enterprises licenses their online poker room software from CryptoLogic, and have recently added CryptoLogic's top 10 casino games including the mega-progressive slot, Millionaire's Club, which has paid out several multi-million dollar jackpots.
Branding is very important to online poker rooms. Investors realize that the barriers to entry for startup poker companies are relatively low and smaller companies can catch-up to the larger rooms easily by quickly attracting players through promotions and advertising. In order to attract investors, poker rooms need to show that they are not likely to lose their market share to other poker rooms. The successful companies increase brand recognition of their poker rooms through good advertising, solid reputation, and unique promotions like the Party Poker Million and Ladbrokes Million tournaments. Additionally, an improved online poker product through research and development of online poker room software that adds increased game speed, better graphics, and better gameplay can quickly show a return on investment when positive poker room reviews and word of mouth attract new players.
Online Poker Stock Prices
Stock Exchanges
This list shows the online poker rooms' trading symbols for each stock exchange. Click on the stock exchange to go directly to the current trading price.
World Poker TourNASDAQ:WPTE
Party Gaming
London Stock Exchange:PRTY
CryptoLogic
NASDAQ:CRYP
Toronto Stock Exchange:CRY
London Stock Exchange:CRP
Sporting Bet
London Stock Exchange:SBT
888 Holdings
London Stock Exchange:888
Ladbrokes
London Stock Exchange:LAD
William Hill
London Stock Exchange:WMH
bWin
Vienna Stock Market:BWIN
Boss Media
Nordic Exchange:BOSS
Poker Stocks Site Navigation
The navigation bar on the right lists the parent company for each poker room that is publicly traded and the poker room below it. At the bottom of the list are the online poker software companies that make the software for many of the public and private companies. These software companies also make casino gaming software for casino table games.
The box on the left shows the name of the stock exchange where each of the online poker rooms stocks are traded. The stock symbol for that stock is in red, and clicking the stock exchange name will take you directly to the current price and stock information at its respective stock exchange.
