[ QUOTE ]
We are far from the stage where party is going bust. All they said was that 100% year over year growth rates are unsustainable. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! Their revenues were *only* up 80%.. thats huge!

[/ QUOTE ]

EXCERPT:

Poker party is over, admits online operator

PartyGaming loses third of value in a day as growth grinds to halt

Nils Pratley
Wednesday September 7, 2005
The Guardian


PartyGaming plunged in value by a third - or £2bn - yesterday after the operator of the Party Poker website warned that the online game's phenomenal rate of growth had virtually ground to a halt in recent weeks.
The revelation came only 10 weeks after the company's four founders pocketed £1bn in cash by selling 21% of the business in London's biggest and most controversial flotation for years.

PartyGaming accounts for half the world's online poker and it confessed the latest quarterly period, starting in July, has seen growth in the industry slow to just 4%.
----------------------------------------------------------

The article goes on and on. Nothing too optimistic to say the least.

Transparency may become a big issue with online poker sites. All it will take is one government to get a hard-on for one of them. There are varieties of accounting techniques available to make things seem rosy. Just ask the Japanese. No one is safe from corporate corruption. There will most certainly be political pressure on this form of gaming in the United States. Everyone knows you can't beat the Feds.

News stories concerning the burgeoning gambling (poker) addiction epidemic among the youth and the senior populations far outnumber anything positive in the gaming world (besides Las Vegas' future earnings potential). In small towns and cities, the message is clear: Kids are getting hooked and gambling addiction is very psychologically similar to drug additction.

"SWEET JESUS! We must stop this in the name of our Lord. It's destroying our community." And so begins the crusade against online poker in the very country where the most idiots reside. Then the universities will ban access to these sites, high school workshops on the dangers of laying it on the line, the increasing difficulty of getting money in your account, etc. If you want a career for the future, try becomng a compulsive gambling counselor.

Online poker is not federally subsidized or state-run like airlines. Airlines also provide an extremely valuable business and leisure service which is in constant demand. The airline industry acts as a modified oligopoly. They collude, buy each other up, keep names because name recognition is important when you are risking your life to go somewhere, drop prices here, raise prices there, etc. Having a successful airline industry is one of the most important factors and indicators of national economic success. It is in a government's best interest to assist. Online poker is a form of gambling entertainment that no one knew about 5 years ago. It is not important to an economy, does not support trillions in GDP, and the livelihood of millions of workers. Now it's hot and a few people made a ton of money. There is absolutely no viable long term strategy in this business. The potential volatility, which has already reared its ugly head, has lenders and investors cringing.