20 December 2006 GPWA Times Newsletter

Happy Holidays!
There will be no GPWA Times next week due to the Christmas holiday. We hope you and your loved ones enjoy a happy and peaceful holiday season.

CAP Euro relocates
Chelsea FC, the original venue for Cap Euro, might be hosting a fourth-round FA Cup match (soccer/football) the same weekend as the conference. As a result, Cap Euro has been moved to the The London Olympia Conference Centre. The new location is 1.3 miles from Chelsea FC and conference organizers have promised to provide free shuttle buses from all the originally recommended hotels that were located near Chelsea FC to the new venue.

Harrah's said to have accepted $17.1 billion buyout
Harrah's Entertainment has accepted a $17.1 billion buyout from Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group. The deal values Harrah's at $90 a share and marks the largest transition of a publicly held casino company into private hands.

SuperiorPoker.com resumes U.S. play
Internet poker room SuperiorPoker.com announced that it has resumed serving American players. U.S. players can once again deposit funds through a variety of methods and can participate in real money games and tournaments.

PartyGaming "stabilized" after UIGEA
PartyGaming generated almost $26 million over the last four weeks, according to a pre-close trading update announced last week. The online gaming giant says it will not reveal fourth quarter key performance indicators. The company also announced that over the last four weeks, it has served an average of approximately 52,000 players per day who have contributed an average gross revenue of approximately $921,000 per day across all of its gaming operations. These figures do not include results from PartyGaming's new sports betting operations.

Optimal to buy back shares of FireOne Group
Optimal Group has announced its intention to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of FireOne Group, operator of the Firepay e-Wallet. Optimal says it intends to develop the business of FireOne Group as a private company "through possible alternative uses for the FirePay Wallet and an expansion of the credit card acquiring business currently operated by the FireOne Group."