Pulling from US Market Proves Costly

"The U.S. was by far the biggest market for companies. Their major bargaining chip of legal action has been taken away," says Ed Barton, an analyst at London research company Screen Digest.

The World Trade Organization's ruling has turned what many feel a bad situation into something permanent. And it seems the investors agree. When the news of the EU, US agreement came to light the stock tumbled.

PartyGaming shares for instance instantly slumped 4.1%, while BWin shares dropped by 2.1%. Sounds worse when you look at the total value of the companies. In real terms the two companies shares have tumbled by 75% since last year's announcement.

But instead of licking their wounds the companies have endeavored to grow outside of the US. They have forged new branches and new partnerships. PartyGaming for instance has done deals with Paramount Pictures to base online games on Hollywood movies.

They are increasing operations across Europe and focusing heavily on the Asian market "Europe and Asia have the possibility to be bigger than the U.S. ever was," says Andrew Lee, a leisure analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. "The Asian market on its own could be worth billions of dollars."

Efforts by the likes of PartyGaming are not being wasted. Their third quarter revenue has shot up by 24% compared with last year and the number of gamblers using the site has grown from 50 million to over 72 million in the same period.