PartyGaming boss: media and monopolies pose biggest threat to operators

p>Monopolies and media giants will pose a bigger threat to online gambling companies in future than will established operators, PartyGaming’s Jim Ryan said today.

Speaking at the Gaming Executive Summit in Madrid, the PartyGaming chief executive predicted that monopolies and media giants entering domestic online gaming markets when legislation allows them to will offer more competition than operators have ever faced from even the biggest established rivals.

Ryan said: The [egaming] world is changing as regulation takes different shape in different markets. But upcoming regulation means new entrants and competition in the market, and I worry less about direct competitors such as those sitting on this panel than I do about government-licensed operators and major media firms targeting their own markets in the future.”

Ryan was speaking alongside panellists including Bwin co-chief executive Norbert Teufelberger, 888 chief executive Gigi Levy and Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer as part the Summit’s online gambling debate.

PartyGaming had been forced to compete harder as US-facing poker sites reinvented their huge profits into marketing in Europe, he continued. “While not ideal, it has been a humbling experience and has forced us to improve our products and offers and to really up our game.”

Talk of regulation featured strongly, with many of the panellists hoping to be able to move in to the US should online poker be regulated there. However, as reported on EGRmagazine.com today, Gigi Levy predicted the US will remain protectionist and restrict egaming licences to US companies.

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