PartyGaming, the online gaming company, has expressed hopes that it may be able to resume its US operations this year as efforts are being made to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Announcing its full-year results for 2008, the company said that US Congressman Barney Frank, chair of the House of Representatives' financial services committee, intends to introduce a bill that will attempt to revoke the UIGEA, which was introduced in September 2006. It is hoped that the move will lead to a legislative framework to license and regulate online gambling in the US, which PartyGaming said "would represent an important first step towards the group being able to once again offer its services to customers in the US."

In its full-year results, PartyGaming reported a massive increase in pre-tax profits from $6.7m (£4.8m) to $82.4m (£58.7m) compared with the previous year, although total net revenue decreased by $3.1m (£2.2m) to $472.9m (£336.7m) after non-recurring adjustments.