Respected and well-informed media resources such as Bloombergs and the Financial Times are speculating that another major deal in the online gambling industry may be imminent following the announcement earlier this week that William Hill and Playtech are to collaborate on William Hill Online.com .

The reports point to recent statements by online poker software and network provider Cryptologic that it would enter into a poker partnership with an unidentified large poker network, speculating that this may involve PartyGaming.

The Times goes so far as to assert that Cryptologic is currently in discussions with PartyGaming on pooling online poker resources in order to cut costs.

Cryptologic has thus far not commented on the possible loss of its William Hill poker and possibly online casino business as a consequence of the Will Hill-Playtech deal, but there is little doubt that an alliance with PartyGaming subsidiary Party Poker would strengthen both companies.