In November, CryptoLogic, which is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in the United States, announced that it would merge its member online poker rooms with the Boss Media Network during the first quarter of 2009. Poker News Daily can confirm that the official move of InterPoker is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 17th.
An e-mail seeking more information on the migration date to Boss resulted in the following response: “We are scheduled to move March 17th. If the date changes, we will let you know as soon as we have further details.” Divesting itself of its poker network will allow CryptoLogic to focus on designing cutting-edge online casino software. Overall, it seeks to cut expenses by $13 million annually, according to a press statement released on February 9th. As part of its restructuring, the company will no longer have a position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO); its responsibilities will instead be divided among the remaining company officials.
CryptoLogic has also found itself in the middle of a squabble with its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Javaid Aziz. It is currently seeking to recoup €1.5 million and the company is now headed by Brian Hadfield. The former CEO called for an extraordinary general meeting, which CryptoLogic management noted “is not in the best interests of shareholders at a time when the board and management are focusing on returning the company to profitability.”
CryptoLogic Network rooms, which do not accept U.S. players, have been in flux since the announcement was made that they would collectively head to Boss. Playboy Poker shut down on January 29th due to the brand not catching on outside of the United States. Betsafe moved to the Ongame Network, joining sites such as bwin, Poker Loco, and RedKings. Sun Poker and PokerPlex both jumped from CryptoLogic to Playtech’s iPoker Network, the largest in the world that does not accept U.S. players.
Other recent network changes include Doyle’s Room and Poker Host moving from the Microgaming Network to the Cake Poker Network. Doyle’s Room officially moved in January, while Poker Host switched last Monday. In addition, Cake lured Gutshot Poker to its family of sites. The USA-friendly Cake Poker Network has ballooned as a result, becoming the ninth largest worldwide according to traffic ranking site PokerScout.com. The Network boasts a seven day running average of 1,700 cash game players, with a peak of nearly 2,600. CryptoLogic is currently 17th with a seven day average of 465. The world’s largest online poker room, PokerStars, regularly hosts 24,800 cash game players on average.
Two other network changes included Carlos Poker moving to Microgaming and NoIQ Poker leaving the iPoker Network for Entraction, which is currently headlined by Devilfish Poker.
Current Boss Media Network sites include Celeb Poker, Fortune Poker, and Paradise Poker. The company released a statement claiming that over the course of the 2008 calendar year, the number of active daily players jumped by 14%, “maximum concurrent players” on its felts rose by 22%, and registrations ballooned by 28% per day, making it “the fastest growing independent European network.” The Network’s parent company is based in Sweden and can be found on the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange under the symbol “BOSS.”
Every Sunday, InterPoker currently hosts a £35,000 guaranteed prize pool tournament for its players with a buy-in of £120. For those who cannot afford to drop a three-figure buy-in, satellites begin at £11. InterPoker offers a total of $4 million in guarantees every month. Both fully downloadable and Instant Play versions of its software are available, with players being able to choose whether to compete in dollars or pounds.
CryptoLogic’s stock closed up $0.15 on Friday to $4.93. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded in a range of $2.00 to $21.97. Earlier this month, CryptoLogic revealed that comic book heroes Superman and Batman would soon become subjects of its popular online casino software.