Party Gaming close to Amnesty Settlement with US DOJWe reported earlier this week that PartyGaming PLC had risen as much as ten percent after investors had speculated the company was close to settlement with the US Department of Justice. It was announced shortly later that talks of this were premature and such a settlement might be several months away. This latest announcement was made by Numis Securities and resulted in the stocks price dropping 7.5 percent, the largest drop in a month.

PartyGaming is the world’s largest publicly traded poker company, based out of Gibraltar and listed on London Stock exchange (PRTY:LN). They began talks with the US DOJ back in June 2007 as share holders and lenders began to express anxiety over fear of potential future legal actions the company might face resulting from the bets they took from Americans from 2001 to 2006, under the PartyPoker brand.

Past rumors had speculated the US DOJ was requiring jail time in their negotiation, which was something founders of Party Poker refused to accept. Other talks suggested that PartyGaming might pay as much as $1 Billion in exchange for amnesty. At this time it looks like the two parties are talking, a good sign, but still have much negotiation to do.

Investors have speculated that should PartyGaming reach a settlement its value and pricing should rise as a settlement would open the doors for the company to tap debt markets borrowing more money for acquisitions or be a candidate for potential large mergers.

We’ll keep you posted as more news on this topic breaks.