Online gaming company PartyGaming said on Friday it had signed a record number of new poker players in the fourth quarter and was on track to become the world‘s biggest online casino.

The operator of the PartyPoker Web site, the world‘s biggest online poker room, said group sales rose 65 percent to $320 million in the fourth quarter, prompting analysts to upgrade their full-year forecasts.

But after jumping 5.5 percent in early trading, PartyGaming shares were down 2.75 percent to 141-1/2 pence by 1020 GMT due to profit-taking, analysts said.

PartyGaming shares had gained 9 percent since the start of the year as the gaming industry shrugs off scepticism with a series of bold statements and forecast-beating updates.

PartyPoker signed up over 229,000 new players, nearly a third of them from outside the United States, in the fourth quarter.

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