Provided everything goes as planned, the merger between two giants of the gambling industry, PartyGaming and bwin will come into effect on April 1st 2011. The new company will be named bwin.party.

Details of the upcoming merger were released by both companies on December 23rd. According to the press releases, the merger will create the largest listed online gambling company in the world with a net revenue of approximately 700 million euros.

The name of the new company will be, in all its' glory, bwin.party digital entertainment plc, or just bwin.party for short.

Shares of the respective companies will be de-listed in the Vienna and London stock exchanges after trading has closed on March 31st, and the new company will be listed in the London Stock Exchange where dealing in bwin.party shares commences at 8am on April 1st.

PartyGaming owns PartyPoker while bwin is the owner of the Ongame Network. It is expected that both poker brands will continue operating as usual even after the merger.