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PartyGaming's Danske Spil agreement faces cancellation after Playtech complaint 10/06/2010

Stephen Carter

The Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement has ruled that PartyGaming’s landmark B2B agreement with Danish monopoly Danske Spil “must be annulled”, after it upheld Playtech’s complaint that the proper tender process was not adhered to.

Danske Spil today announced that the Complaints Board had reached that conclusion on the deal between a specially formed subsidiary of Danske Spil and PartyGaming on the basis that neither the subsidiary nor the country’s egaming legislation existed at the time, meaning it had bypassed specific tender rules.

Danske Spil chief executive HC Madsen stated that Danske Spil had not tried in any way to bypass the rules. “As it was supposed to be entered by a newly formed subsidiary, which was supposed to compete on a partially liberalised gambling marked, we assumed that we were not obliged to perform a tender process as such, but chose a quicker and more flexible tender-like process instead. “

A spokesperson for PartyGaming however termed the setback “a technical blip. It’s quite common with government tenders for the losing party to appeal, which is what happened. It’s the first government tender we have been through, so looking back at the event, we would say we are more wiser [sic].”.

But the spokesperson declined to comment on the possibility Playtech’s challenge could delay PartyGaming’s deal to offer casino and poker into the Danish market on a white-label basis.

“We are very experienced at getting these things done quickly. It’s only June, legislation is not due to come in until January. If this was awarded whenever, we can get this going very quickly.”

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Posted: 10/06/2010

Tags: Danske Spil , PartyGaming , Playtech

User comments

Anonymous

How can the PartyGaming spokesperson say that they are "more wiser" when Mor Weizer is the CEO of Playtech? Will the real Mor Weizer please stand up?

» Report this comment

Anonymous

The pun was entirely deliberate

» Report this comment

Anonymous

Simple typical delay tactics - not surprising coming from Playtech - standard MO in the Lottery space where appealing on technicalities is a way to dent competitors in a fairly non-competitive space.

» Report this comment

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