The Gibraltar based gambling group ‘PartyGaming’ say they believe players from the United States are still the most sought after by British online gaming websites.

PartyGaming is straining to match sign-up bonuses and tournament prize money offered by its aggressive online poker competitors in Britain and across Europe, the company said yesterday.

The company has reined back elements of spending on retaining clients, but a bitter price war has kept the cost of player recruitment high.

"Strong competition - particularly from poker sites that continue to accept US players - has led to an increase in bonuses and costs associated with some of our poker tournaments," PartyGaming said in a statement.

Shares in the group were down 24.75p, or 10%, at 223.5p at the close of business on Wednesday.

Like most poker sites, PartyGaming pulled out of the US in October 2006 after the introduction of tough new anti-online gambling laws. The London-listed company lost three quarters of its business when it retreated from America, and overnight Europe became its largest market.

A handful of private operators, led by PokerStars and Full Tilt, continue to operate in the US, which is still believed to represent close to half the global market for online poker. They avoid the attentions of the Department of Justice because they have no assets or operations in America.

Intriguingly PartyGaming believes these firms are using the scale of their US player base to fund promotions around the globe, particularly targeting market share gains in Europe.

A price war is focused on incentives to attract large numbers of cash player’s sites. High player numbers, in turn, attract the most big players - the top 10%, known as "sharks", who generate about three quarters of income.

The key to the US surveillance of banned online gaming sites which prevents citizens of the country from playing is banking based.
If all transactions go through foreign banks and credit card companies then the authorities there find it difficult to track existing player’s activities.

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