Online gambling firm Bwin.party said talks about selling all or part of its business had become more serious, as it battles headwinds such as the decline of regulated poker markets in Europe.
Bwin, created by a merger of sports betting group bwin and online poker group PartyGaming in 2011, said in November it was considering a range of proposals from interested parties.
Canada's Amaya Gaming, which last year bought online gambling sites PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, was one party named in media reports last year as being interested.
Bwin's chairman Philip Yea confirmed on Wednesday that the group was considering a number of indicative proposals.
"The board has entered into a further stage of discussions with each party with a view to assessing the relative attractions of these proposals," he said.
Shares in Bwin, down 32 per cent in the last 12 months, were trading up two per cent this morning
Analyst Nick Batram at Peel Hunt said any major transaction was always likely to be complicated and take time to secure, adding that a full takeover was only one option.
The update on the talks came as Bwin posted a six per cent drop last year in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to €101.2 million, broadly in line with a consensus of analysts' forecasts of €99.65 million, but marking a third straight annual fall.
Revenue last year fell to €612m from €652m in 2013, which Chief executive Norbert Teufelberger said reflected continued softness in the European poker market and a full year's impact from the Greek government's blocking of gambling websites.
He is focusing on providing gaming services to other businesses, improving its offer on mobile devices and cutting costs in search of growth.
The company said trading in the first eight weeks of 2015 had been broadly in line with its expectations.
Although betting volumes on sports and gaming, excluding poker, had risen, lower margins in sports betting and casino games meant that average daily net revenue was down 12 per cent on a year ago, he said.
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