On the heels of Empire Online’s announcement that it would list on the London Stock Exchange on June 15 th, came PartyGaming’s announcement of its plans to float on the London Stock Exchange by June 27 th. Another online gambling company, 888Casino.com, is also planning to list on the London Stock Exchange later this year. In March 888Casino.com announced that it had contracted with Credit Suisse First Boston to prepare the float. The expected value of the flotation is at 1.6 billion dollars. Empire Online is expected to float at one billion dollars, but the largest flotation, by far, will be PartyGaming. Financial analysts for the company estimate the listing could value PartyGaming at about ten billion dollars (equivalent to 5.5 billion British pounds). It is also expected that PartyGaming stock will also qualify for inclusion in blue-chip indexes compiled by the FTSE and MSCI.

PartyGaming, which operates the Party Poker website, is the world’s largest online poker company and is the only company to raise such a sum in London since 2001, when Friends Provident raised an equivalent sum in July of that year.

All of this activity on the London Stock Exchange is not only evidence of the rapid and continued expansion of online poker, and online gambling in general, but is also added proof of London’s central position as the listing center for the online gambling industry.

Strict gambling rules in the United States and its anti online gambling policies have further bolstered London’s position as the center for the online gambling industry, while strides made in broadband technology continue to bolster the growing popularity of the online gaming industry itself. Moreover, the resurgent popularity of poker and the ease and convenience with which visitors to online gambling sites can begin to play, have served to fuel the industry’s growth even more.

PartyGaming and all the companies associated with the online gambling industry have reason to be optimistic, if a report issued by Edison Investment Research and Durlacher is any indication. The report, issued earlier this year, estimates that online gambling revenue (in other words, the amount of money lost by gamblers), passed the eight billion dollar mark in 2005, up 37 percent from the previous year.

PartyGaming has enlisted the brokerage firm of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to be the coordinator and sole book runner for the deal. Dresdner also handled Sportingbet.com’s expansion into online poker when Sportingbet took over the Paradise Poker site. The deal with PartyGaming will strengthen Dresdner’s image as a leading advisor in the online gaming industry.