Less than one year after a historic merger which made bwin.party one of the biggest online gambling groups in the world, the company could now be facing a takeover attempt from another giant, Wynn Resorts.

Rumors were according to the Independent circulating yesterday, hinting that Steve Wynn may be looking to Austria and bwin.party for a possible replacement for the now-failed co-operation with PokerStars.

Wynn Resorts, headed by Steve Wynn, earlier this year announced a deal with PokerStars to work for the introduction of legal online poker in the U.S., but the agreement was dropped as PokerStars was forced to leave the market in the wake of Black Friday.

Meanwhile, bwin.party has been seeing shares drop since the merger between bwin and PartyPoker, and this may according to observers have created just enough pressure on the company's leadership to deliver something of value back to shareholders, for instance by accepting a sale to one of the world's biggest gambling giants.

A takeover would also mean a possible set forward for the fight for legal and regulated online poker in the States, according to Wicked Chops Poker as "people in-the-know have maintained that when Steve Wynn threw his hat in the online poker ring, laws would be passed."

bwin.party shares also took a minor jump yesterday as a result of the speculations, reaching 107.8p momentarily on the London Stock Exchange, before closing at 105.7p, a rise over the session of 1.7p in total.