Lock Poker to buy Cake network assets
Site will leave Merge Network and launch the rebranded Revolution Gaming network in July.
Lock Poker is set to break away from parent network Merge as it closes in on the acquisition of selected and as-yet-unidentified assets belonging to the Cake network.
Once completed, the network will be rebranded as Revolution Gaming in July, according to a release from Cake, which added: “This deal also allows Cake to focus efforts on its current European, South American and Asian business with another exciting announcement to soon follow.”
Lock Poker chief executive Jennifer Larson told poker magazine CardPlayer: “It is a dream come true. Merge was a great stepping stone for us but we have outgrown them. We really need to forge our own path to continued success.”
Lock joined the Merge network in March 2010 and has grown in scope over the last two years, attracting a number of sponsored players, most recently former World Series of Poker Europe champion Annette Obrestad.
In the past few months the Lock network has risen to the number one US-facing network since the withdrawal of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus network from the market, while it currently ranks eighth for overall cash game traffic according to Pokerscout.
Players who already have accounts with the Malta and Curaçao-licensed site will be transferred over to the new network, with Lock promising “more details soon” on matters such as rakeback and VIP programmes.
The Cake network is currently the third-largest US-facing network and includes Red Panda Poker as well as the poker offerings of Webis brand Betinternet and GVC’s South American-facing Betboo brand. It entered into a strategic partnership with power affiliate PokerListings last year.