US gambling laws threaten £5.5bn Partygaming Shares float

Partygaming, the Gibraltar-based owner of the world's biggest online poker sites (Party Poker), may be forced to pull its £5.5 billion London float as fears grow about the legality of internet gambling in the United States. Analysts at blue-chip US institutions who would be expected to buy shares in PartyGaming said this weekend they will not automatically back the firm and will need convincing that the US government will not harm the company. Online gambling is illegal in America.