Making poker news headlines this week was word that Anurag Dikshit, the cofounder of Party Gaming, had decided to sell his shares in the company, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange. The news was first reported by eGamingReview (EGR) and Dikshit is expected to pocket at least £188 million from the transaction. However, the proceeds of the sale will reportedly be donated to his charitable fund. One year ago, Dikshit pled guilty to violating the Wire Act of 1961 in his role at Party Gaming, igniting cries of “foul” around the industry.

Dikshit held a 28% stake in Party Gaming, which is traded in London under the symbol “PRTY.” On Tuesday, the company reported a sale of 75 million shares, leaving Dikshit with 39 million “indirect voting rights.” However, EGR has since reported that Dikshit plans to sell his entire stake in an effort to remove himself from the company altogether. Shares of the stock tumbled from 284p to 240p when the sale hit, a dip of 15%.
When Dikshit entered into an agreement with the Southern District of New York last December admitting wrongdoing and paying a $300 million fine, shares of PRTY mushroomed from 138p to 211p, as the company was seemingly in the clear to reenter the U.S. market if and when internet gambling became explicitly legal. Dikshit may face prison time, with sentencing scheduled for next December.

In April, Party Gaming entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with the Southern District of New York, admitting to soliciting customers from the United States prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in late 2006. Party Gaming forked over a $105 million fine for hosting “real money poker and casino gaming.” Historically, the Wire Act has applied to online wagering on sports, not playing online poker.

Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan equated the departure of Dikshit to a “changing of the guard” in the industry. As the United States inches closer to the legalization and regulation of online poker, Dikshit’s sale of stock paves the way for other majority stakeholders to follow suit. He explained, “You may see what happened with Dikshit as a transition in the online gaming world. You have a number of companies out there that are enormous and, once states and the Federal Government move towards normalizing the industry, the question will be how does a company position itself to come into the market?”

Internet gambling outfits with clean management track records may be first in line, not one with a majority stakeholder who admitted to violating the Wire Act. Jim Ryan, Party Gaming CEO, commented in a press release outlining the agreement struck with the Federal Government back in April, “The resolution of our position with the U.S. authorities marks an important day for Party Gaming… We are now well-placed to seize organic as well as strategic opportunities that previously were beyond our reach.”

PartyPoker, Party Gaming’s online poker arm, departed the U.S. market shortly after the UIGEA was signed into law in 2006. For the most part, sites owned by publicly traded companies no longer accept U.S. players in deference to shareholder interests, including 888 (which runs Pacific Poker), Ladbrokes, Playtech (which manages the iPoker Network), and Sportingbet (which owns Paradise Poker).

Founding Party Gaming along with Dikshit were Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon, who EGR claims also own 28% of the firm. Parasol and DeLeon are husband and wife and, as of the time of writing, have not agreed to any deal with the U.S. Government nor have they sold their shares in Party Gaming. The company recently completed the acquisition of the World Poker Tour (WPT), outbidding a subsidiary of Playtech. The WPT is in the first day of its annual Festa al Lago in Las Vegas.

According to PokerScout.com, which ranks online poker room traffic, PartyPoker is the fourth largest worldwide with a seven-day running average of 5,100 real money ring game players. Its traffic is comparable with that found on the iPoker Network, which includes Titan Poker. PartyPoker is the second largest site or network that does not accept U.S. action.