Betting Boom Boosts Partygaming

Partygaming has reported a 65% jump in sales as it racked up a record number of new Online Poker players.

The company behind Party Poker, the world's biggest online poker room, said group revenue rose to $320m (£180m) in the three months to December 2005.

Partygaming said it signed up 229,277 new poker players during the fourth quarter of 2005, up from just over 180,000 in the previous year.

The firm has been trying to increase its customer base outside the US. The US is regarded as a risky market given that the legality of online gaming is ambiguous.

Partygaming said just under a third of new online customers for its poker games came from outside the US, compared with 14% in the final quarter of 2004.

Meanwhile, casino sales rose to $82m - eight times more than a year ago - boosted by cross-selling blackjack games to Partypoker players, the company said.

"The success of blackjack has transformed our casino business," said chief executive Richard Segal. "Through effective cross-selling to our large customer base we are well on the way to creating the world's largest Online Casino.