Betsson joins Micro in preparation for IGT Poker shutdown
Swedish operator has opted to offer customers Microgaming's new Poker Network alongside Ongame as it prepares for IGT Poker/Entraction closure next month.
Swedish operator Betsson is to join Microgaming’s Poker Network (MPN) as its third poker supplier as IGT Poker grinds to a halt and shuts down next month, it has announced.
Microgaming will temporarily become Betsson’s third poker supplier alongside IGT Poker and Ongame, however this will soon become two as IGT poker, formerly known as Entraction, shuts down its £70m online poker network next month after citing the ring-fencing of liquidity in certain dot.country markets as the primary cause for the move.
Magnus Silfverberg told eGaming Review this afternoon that IGT Poker would remain a supplier until it closes its doors adding that Ongame would continue to supply a large number of its dot.com players, while Microgaming would soon be able to offer new and existing players a choice of where to play. Its recently acquired Danish business Betsafe will also follow the same strategy, he added.
“Microgaming will hopefully grab a share of the market or even grow our share,” Silfverberg told eGR. “We have always had more than one supplier in poker because we’ve always wanted to our customers the most and the best choice, just as we do in casino where we have between 15 and 20 suppliers,” he added.
Betsson.com will be one of the first operators to go live with MPN’s new lobby design, Microgaming said in a statement. “In cooperation with a number of other key operators, Betsson was integral in shaping the design and functions of the new lobby,” it added.
Microgaming has picked up a number of new licensees following the public demise of IGT Poker including iGame’s core online poker offering, BetVictor Poker, NoIQ, 24hPoker and Pokerihuone.
“More operators joining the MPN will be announced over the coming weeks,” a Microgaming statement read earlier today.
In October Paf also announced it would join the network. No specific date was given for the migration, with Paf explaining in a statement that “The contract with Microgaming is not a replacement for Paf’s other poker networks, Ongame and Boss Media, but a complement that will bring added value to customers.”
Director Anders Wiklund explained to eGaming Review: “When we launch the new network for customers, it will be done simultaneously with us also rebuilding our complete poker experience on our website, which is likely to go live during Q1 2013.
“The new network is one puzzle piece in a bigger make-over of our poker experience for our customers, an experience enhancement in line with our Play Among Friends strategy,” he added.
IGT chief executive Patti Hart confirmed the Nevada licensee’s plans to shut down its online poker network in September. A week earlier eGR revealed the gaming machines manufacturer was planning to pull back from further investment in the network which it acquired little over a year ago for approximately £70m and rebranded from previous incarnation Entraction in January.
Speaking to Bloomberg at the time Hart explained that the business “Shifted from dot-com to dot-country,” meaning “There’s less profitability and the product becomes less interesting.”