“Thanks to the internet and television, poker exploded outside its U.S. homeland in 2005, and PartyGaming chief Richard Segal sees technology boosting that boom even further in 2006.”

The above statement reported by news agency Reuters, followed by an upbeat interview with Segal, has created new optimism in industry circles. Only a few months ago shares in online gaming firms slumped after Segal was reported expressing pessimistic views on the industry’s future. However PartyGaming’s star is firmly on the rise once more, and following the publication of a Reuters report on the poker phenomenon that swept both the U.S. and international markets during 2005, industry insiders are predicting further growth and good times ahead for 2006.

“The beauty of it all is that we’ve invented nothing new,” Segal told Reuters. “We’re just taking games that have been around for decades and putting them in people’s homes.”

In his interview with Reuters in London, Segal revealed some of the new products PartyGaming will launch in 2006. “In the first half there will be a person-to-person skill game and in the second half there will be another more akin to casino gaming,” he said. The company also plans to offer “shared purse” facilities, enabling players to swap between games and boosting efforts to market PartyGaming products to a wider membership.

Segal further announced that PartyGaming intends to bring the world of online poker to developing markets. “From an investor’s point of view it will do us well to reduce our dependence on the United States market,” Segal stated.

However concerning planned new technology that will bring online gaming to mobile phones, Segal cautioned that PartyGaming is more in favor of digital television as an alternative medium. “Imagine you’re playing poker and have a royal flush in your hand and then you lose connectivity. We don’t want disgruntled customers. We’re still looking at test results, but the indications are not getting us overexcited about mobiles.”

Segal’s statements concerning digital television however are far more positive. “The more distribution channels customers have to play on, the better,” he said. “And interactive television is something we’re looking at seriously.”

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