Poker Stocks Take a Pounding in 2008It Wasn't a Banner Year for Traders |
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Like a lot of stocks in 2008, those measuring the value of companies that make their money through poker have been beaten up this year. The stocks of companies that went public before the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 are still trying to climb out of the hole resulting from the law, and 2008 is a year that CEOs and COOs of those companies will soon want to forget.
The following briefly summarizes the last 52 weeks for a half-dozen poker-related companies that offer their stocks to the public.
PartyGaming
Note: Correction made to PartyGaming portion.
PartyGaming had a very bad year. PartyGaming was trading under 29 pence in January and the company consolidated their stock ater in the year which added 10-times the value to the stock price. The company went public in 2005 with an initial price of 125.50 pence but lost about one-third of that a year later when the UIGEA was passed and the company had to stop doing business with Americans.
This year, PartyGaming’s stock price leaped all the way up to a high of 312 pence (after consolidation). One of the reasons, according to Bloomberg, was rumors that the company was getting close to settling with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is attempting to punish the company and its founders for operating illegally and making so much money from customers located in the U.S. A settlement was never made, and the stock now trades at 124 pence. That effectively means that without the cosolidation, the stock would be trading at 12.4 pence.
World Poker Tour Enterprises
It hasn’t been a good year for World Poker Tour Enterprises. The company's online gambling site didn’t take off as projected and was shuttered this fall. The company also had to take a less-lucrative TV contract with FSN after GSN decided to move on without them.
This summer, the WPTE received word from NASDAQ that it faces losing its spot on the exchange because its trading price fell below $1 for more than a month. The WPTE got a reprieve on that, though. Because of the financial crisis, NASDAQ has suspended that rule until May 2009.
WPTE also lost its primary owner when Lake’s Entertainment, which owned slightly more than 50 percent of existing stock, decided to end its relationship with WPTE and hand out its shares to existing Lake’s Entertainment shareholders this fall.
WPTE stock is currently trading at 36 cents. It started the year at $1.65, and its 52-week high was $2.14. When it launched in August 2004, it opened at $9.10. Its market cap is $7.58 million.
PokerTek
PokerTek, the Charlotte, North Carolina, company that is trying to corner the automated table gaming market, has watched its stock lose nearly 80 percent of its value this year. Opening at $8.28, the NASDAQ-listed stock is now trading at $1.51. Its market cap is $15.96 million.
The drop happened despite a big year for the company, as far as growth. It signed contracts to install its automated real-money PokerPro systems in two of the largest poker markets in the country, Atlantic City and Las Vegas, as well as all over the world. It also has distributed more than 1,000 of its “for amusement only” heads-up machines in establishments across America and the world.
Playtech
Playtech is a software developer who also owns the iPoker Network, which features Titan Poker, Fair Poker, Noble Poker, and Poker CD. The company develops a wide range of gambling-oriented games for Internet casinos, as well as gaming systems like the PSP.
Its stock is currently trading at £313.50 on the London Stock Exchange, and its 52-week high is £558. Its market cap is £747.34 million.
AsianLogic
AsianLogic runs a bunch of poker skins that mainly faced toward customers in, appropriately, Asia. The company is determined to appeal to local markets in Asia by localizing and marketing its sites to attract players. One way it is doing this is by running the Asian Poker Tour in locations all over that continent. AsianLogic runs its poker rooms on PlayTech’s poker platform.
AsianLogic trades on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternate Investment Market (AIM). Its current price is 31 pence. Its 52-week high was 114 pence, and its low was 20 pence.
CryptoLogic
CryptoLogic trades on both NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange. The company has its hands in several facets of the online gambling industry, including poker and casino development through its subsidiary WaterLogic, as well an electronic cash-transferring business.
Its stock is currently trading at $2.31 on NASDAQ, and its 52-week high is $21.97. It started the year at $17.46 and carries a market cap of $29.5 million.
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