888 Buys bwin.party for a Whopping US$1.4 Billion

$1.4 billion can set most people up for life and it can buy a lot of things. One such "thing" it can buy is bwin.party, one of the largest and most notable gaming and poker companies in the world.

The company was purchased by 888 Holdings for US$1.4 billion this week, after a short but notable bidding war with rival company GVC Holdings. GVC had put a similar bid for the company early last week, but 888’s bid was eventually the one that won out after consideration from bwin’s now ex-owners.

The purchase is the latest in what has been a series of inter-gaming industry purchases and mergers, some of which have also involved bwin.party.

Last month, bwin sold the famous World Poker Tour (WPT) to Asian company Ongame for US$35 million, in a move that will likely increase the number of WPT events in Asia. However, that acquisition is miniscule compared to the billion dollar purchase of bwin.party by 888 Holdings.

Bwin.party’s purchase should help 888 consolidate its place as a dominant player in online gaming in the face of higher and stricter taxes as well as more stringent regulation of gaming laws. The purchase is also likely to have major implications on the world of online poker given the standings of bwin.party and 888 Holdings owned poker networks.

Both 888poker and PartyPoker, which is part of the bwin.party company, are in the top seven most frequented online poker networks.

According to PokerScout, PartyPoker is currently the seventh largest site in terms of poker traffic, with a seven day average of 1000 players.

888poker, on the other hand, has firmly established itself as the largest online gaming company not named PokerStars, with a seven day player traffic average of 2300.

It seems unlikely, at least right now, for both player networks to merge into one. However, it would not be farfetched to expect major co-promotion among both PartyPoker and 888 as a way to try and bring more players into the networks.