Following the breakup of William Hill and
Cryptologic and a
seemingly consequent deal between Playtech and Will Hill, it is none other
than Cryptologic who has made headlines with a speculative deal in the
online gaming sector. As if Will Hill and Cryptologic both were planning to take
their operations in another direction, the two businesses are now poised to drum
up a whole new demographic entirely.
As for online gaming software developer,
Cryptologic, their big deal is likely to fall in court with Party Gaming. As
reported by the Financial Times, it looks imminent that Cryptologic is serious
about pooling their online poker resources with PartyGaming so as to cut back on
costs. Certainly, this is no soft rumor - In addition to losing Will Hill,
Cryptologic is being faced with an even greater loss - the World Poker Tour.
WPT announced in an advisory report to the
Securities Exchange Commission on October 17 that it will be prematurely
terminating it's extended contract with Cryptologic, set to expire in 2011. With
over two years left on the contract, it is very likely that Cryptologic will be
entitled to compensatory costs, although neither company has stated anything to
this effect. The contractual agreement stated that Cryptologic would be
guaranteed to $750,000 per year, with a provision guaranteeing agreed upon
monthly figures if revenues were to drop.
Despite the fact that WPT is not carrying any debt
and has strong assets, the companies stock prices have continued to drop. So
much so, in fact, that the SEC has warned WPT that if shares remained under the
$1 mark for another thirty days, it could be subject to a delisting. You could
say that Cryptologic is itself in a similar bind. However, if a deal or even
merger with Party Gaming does indeed go through, Cryptologic's future will look
considerably brighter.
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