The self-proclaimed world's number one online casino and poker room, 888.com has reported a 56 percent increase in overall third-quarter revenue.

Announcing that the claims of Internet poker's growth tailing off were simply untenable, 888.com insisted on Tuesday that the gaming sector was still growing strongly. Those comments came in direct opposition to that of industry leader PartyGaming Plc, a site that had announced that the online poker gaming growth was flattening out. By mid-October, the Merrill Lynch Internet Gaming Index had slumped 15 percent in great part based on PartyGaming Plc's September 6th announcement that its sales growth had been moderating.

Shares in 888.com jumped 5 percent in early trading Tuesday, but later fell back and were up 0.9 percent by mid-day, trading at a price just below September's market debut price. In a year-on-year comparison, 888's net gaming revenue from all online games rose 56 percent to $70 million for the three months prior to September 30. Online poker revenues rose 178 percent, totaling $29.5 million for the time period.

PartyGaming Plc, boosting revenues based on a partial splitting from its partner web site, Empire Online, saw its shares climb 1.4 percent on Tuesday. Combined with the positive trading of 888.com, analysts suggested that the online poker market is growing more strongly than PartyGaming Plc would have gamers believe.