Online gaming firms continued to suffer today from a looming US ban as World Gaming fought for survival. Empire Online said it would invest in safer lines of business and PartyGaming was earmarked to exit the FTSE 100 index.
World Gaming asked the London Stock Exchange to suspend its shares shortly after the open "due to a fundamental uncertainty over its ability to continue trading".
The group said last week it might be in technical default of its loan conditions after the U.S. Congress approved a bill making it illegal for companies to accept bets over the Internet or for credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.
The bill has been passed to US president George W. Bush to sign into law, which the industry views as a certainty.
Several European firms said they would quit the United States, triggering a share price crash that has wiped nearly $7 billion off company values.
The compilers of the FTSE said they would drop sector leader PartyGaming from their list of 100 leading shares after it lost 63 per cent of its value last week to reach about 1.7 billion pounds