PartyGaming, the Gibraltar-based parent of PartyPoker.com today issued a statement in response to reports in the Financial Times that its co-founder Anurag Dikshit had agreed to pay U.S. authorities $300 million and plead guilty to a charge of illegal gambling.
Dikshit, who still has a 27 percent stake in PartyGaming, was a prime mover in the flotation of the company three years ago 
and when the U.S. introduced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which, many observers say, has made online gambling largely illegal in the U.S.
PartyGaming issued a statement saying it would not comment on the accuracy of the report but went on to say that, “…on the basis of the discussions to-date, PartyGaming expects any settlement with the DoJ to involve a payment by the Company of an amount that is significantly lower than that reported to be paid by Mr Dikshit in today’s Financial Times. In addition, the Company believes that any such settlement is unlikely to include a criminal plea on the part of the Company or any director.”
