In the online poker world, it is common to hear about rooms being created or smaller rooms joining a larger network for a bigger share of the consumer market. Rarely is it heard that a room is sold, but that is exactly what has occurred during the last week.
The gaming group Entraction, which held ownership of Casablanca Gaming Group AB and operated online poker rooms under the Entraction Network, has signed a letter of intent to sell the operation of its Casagaming Ltd outlet of the company to iGame. Entraction is a gaming group that offers its partners software systems for online poker, sports betting, and casinos. In addition, it provides access to the poker network and a range of peripheral services. Casagaming Ltd is located in Malta and operates 24h Poker and Martin’s Poker. Those Casagaming sites are among the best-known rooms for Scandinavian players and, with a burgeoning market in that area, should make significant inroads into the online gaming world. Martin’s Poker is named for Martin de Knijff, a former World Poker Tour event winner.
Peter Åström, CEO of Entraction, announced the sale earlier this month and commented, “The selling of the gaming operations is a milestone for Entraction and enables us to focus one hundred percent on our supplier operation. In a time when many of our competitors do the opposite and start to mix the roles of operator and supplier, Entraction’s focus makes us both more attractive to new partners and more transparent to investors. I am certain that iGame Ltd will continue to successfully operate the sites in the Casagaming Network.”
The Entraction Network, according to traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, is the 11th largest worldwide. Over the past six months, the Network’s average cash game player count has grown by about 50% and can top out at 2,000 during peak hours.
The news of the Casagaming sale comes at a time when many rooms are either consolidating with other networks or shutting down entirely. On April 14th, PokerRoom and CasinoRoom shut down and informed their players that any current accounts would be transferred to the European site bwin.
Prior to that, two notable poker rooms moved networks to be able to access American action. Both PokerHost and Doyle’s Room, which had previously been on the Microgaming Network (among others) that do not accept U.S. customers, moved to the Cake Poker Network and have immediately had a sizeable impact on their player numbers. This is in addition to other rooms that closed over the past few months, affecting the online poker landscape. The popular poker room Bugsy’s Club was forced to close its doors in March and, prior to that, subscription-based online poker sites such as Fleet Street Games, Duplicate Poker, and Zosoz have ceased to operate due to financial concerns.
