Betsson Buys Betfriends to Increase Poker Division

Online gaming operator Betsson has acquired Betfriends in an attempt to increase poker revenues for the company. Betsson’s poker division has been suffering for a while with revenues significantly down for months.

Betfriends is a Malta licensed poker operator on the iPoker network. They have over 4000 active players. The brand also offers a sports book and casino to players.

The move purchase comes following Betsson CEO’s, Pontus Lindwall, promise to improve the poker revenues at the back end of 2009.

Poker Business: 888 Down 10% after Disappointing Update

One of the biggest fallers of the day on the UK stock market – and unrelated to the Greek crisis – is 888, down nearly 10% after a disappointing quarterly update.

The online gaming group has lost 9.3p to 84.5p and is topping the fallers in the mid-cap FTSE 250 index. It said operating income for the first quarter had risen 21% to $69m, with a 24% increase in registered customer accounts. But it added that trading so far in the second quarter had been disappointing in casino, poker and bingo, with daily average revenue around 13% below the average in the first three months of the year.

It has started a cost cutting programme across the group, but added that its financial position was strong enough to “exploit M&A opportunities when they become available.” It is apparently in advanced talks about a couple of bolt-on acquisitions.

Poker Recognised as a Mind Sport

The old argument based around poker being a sport, a hobby or simply outright gambling has been on-going for some time now. Professional players often argue in favour of poker being taken more seriously and, while not being recognised as a full “sport”, they will be delighted with the news coming out of the International Mind Sports Association today.

The association has recognised poker as a fully fledged member of their mind sports list. Poker will now be played alongside Chess and Bridge at the World Mind Sports Games in London in 2012. Not quite an olympic event but certainly a boost for poker in general.

Harrah’s to Sell The Rio?

The Rio in Las Vegas has been the home to the WSOP for a few years now, making the poker room/convention centre there one of the most famous around. The carnival atmosphere in the casino itself draws crowds from around the world. So it seems surprising that owners Harrah’s are rumoured to want to sell The Rio.

Businessweek said of the possible sale that; “Starwood Capital Group LLC and Colony Capital LLC are among the companies that are weighing bids for the resort. Some bids value the Rio at about $500 million.”

Harrah’s, who cut their debt by $4.2 billion in 2009 by offering creditors new bonds at a discount, only recently purchased the Planet Hollywood casino in Las Vegas.

PokerStars Buy Out Three Poker Blogs

The world of business usually moves quickly but the world of poker business is on another level. The latest development on the corporate poker news wires comes from online giants PokerStars. ‘Stars have purchased three poker “blogs” including one that shut down at the end of 2009.

PokerPages.com, PlayWinningPoker.com and Poker-Babes.com are all long standing web sites offering news and views from the poker world. PokerPages.com was one of the original sources of news for the online poker community before it closed down in October last year. With PokerStars backing the site is likely to undergo a redevelopment and probably a surge in popularity.

Party Gaming & Bwin Merger Rumours Heat Up

A merger between poker giants Party Gaming (owners of Party Poker) and Bwin has been on the rumour mill for a while now, but things have taken an interesting twist today when unnamed officials involved in the deal stated the merger “should be wrapped up this summer.”

Party Gaming, a PLC listed on the London Stock Exchange, have yet to comment on the rumours but the speculation surrounding both of the companies has now reached fever-pitch following stories on the Internet, regarding a merger, floating around since 2009.

Party have been acquiring and merging with various organisations in the last year. They recently acquired the World Poker Tour and bingo operator Foxy Bingo.

Online Poker Under Fire Down Under

Online poker giants, Full Tilt Poker and 888, came under fire in Australia over the weekend for two totally seperate matters.

Firstly, 888 sponsored Shane Warne, is alleged to have offered his 40,000+ twitters followers an $8 free bankroll in a tweet which read; “All my followers get free 8 dollars poker money by signing up here.”

Then, the National Rugby League in Australia announced that it was “no longer pursuing a relationship with FullTiltPoker.net on advice of the government”.

Warne and 888 immediately came under fire from church leaders who said that the tweet could influence children who look up to the former cricket legend. Warne’s agent responded by saying Warne was not aware of the tweet.

The Poker Channel for Sale?

In a recent article by UK newspaper, The Telegraph, Ben Harrington reported that The Poker Channel and online poker room PokerHeaven is up for sale. It’s reported that the parent company of both businesses, Gaming Media Group, are looking to cash in out their assests.

Gaming Media Group has hired Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP to solicit bids and map out a strategy for the business plan of The Poker Channel and PokerHeaven.

The news follows cost-cutting by the management team at the company and the lay-offs of several key staff, fuelling rumours that the business has peaked and the directors are about to take their money and run.

iPhone Poker? The Future’s Bright!

Poker on iPhone’s and other “smart phones” has never really been something to shout about. However, mobile network Orange are set to change things with the launch of their own poker App in April.

Alongside the poker, Orange are set to introduce a whole new series of games developed by the company for the iPhone.

Playtomo was also launched by Orange this week which apparently ‘integrates directly into social networks’ which is described as a way of securing bragging rights on mobile games! Those games include versions of Breakout, Suduko and Tetris amongst others.