Betting industry analysts believe the legislation passed by the US House could hit stocks of online gaming operators short term, but continue to see the full passage into law as very unlikely due to the lack of time in the Senate.
“We have been here before,” ABN Amro said in a research note. “Leach\’s proposals passed a vote in Congress in 2002 and again in 2003 but never reached the Senate.”
“Only about seven or eight weeks of Congress will be left for the merged House bill to negotiate the various Senate committees,” said Richard Carter at Numis Securities. “In our view this is not enough time for the bill to progress, given the tight end-of-Congress legislation timetable in the Senate.”
“With 15 days until summer recess and 32 before elections in November, it may not have time to go through all the necessary committees and subcommittees as a standalone bill,” Dresdner Kleinwort said to its clients.
In separate news, HSBC has upgraded PartyGaming from \’neutral\’ to \’overweight\’ and set a target price of 144p. The broker pointed out that PartyGaming\’s price has fallen around 30% since early May when the founders started selling out and that current levels provide an attractive entry point for investors.
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