Another day, another hit for Boss Media’s International Poker Network (IPN). One of the network’s oldest poker rooms, InterPoker, has officially announced that it will be moving over to the Ongame Network by the end of April.
The news began to be communicated to both players and affiliates via e-mail as much as a couple weeks ago. InterPoker’s affiliate arm, InterPartners, told affiliates that it was jumping ship in order to “…provide all players, existing and new the best gaming experience possible! We are also integrating some of the most innovative marketing tools available to increase conversion, retention and overall performance of our brands.”
Amaya Gaming, the owner of the Ongame Network, will soon be launching its new Amaya GO platform. Few details have been leaked about it, but it is thought that it will be a sort of “best of both worlds” offering, combining parts of the Ongame software with parts of the Cryptologic software. Cryptologic used to be a major player in the online poker world, but began to severely struggle after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006 was passed in the United States, despite only about 30 percent of its revenues coming from the U.S. It eventually did away with poker to focus on casino gaming development and was later purchased by Amaya.
InterCasino, the sister casino site of InterPoker, is already part of the Amaya family, running the Cryptologic software.
This is not a good time for the International Poker Network. Just yesterday, Fortune Poker, another member room on the network, shut its doors for good. Now, what is rumored to be the largest room on the network in InterPoker is heading for greener pastures. The IPN was never a top dog, but it had grown into respectability as a viable, if smaller, network. Now, though, it is fading fast. According to PokerScout.com, the International Poker Network has a seven-day average of only 320 cash game players, putting it just 26th in the industry.
Ongame is not gigantic, either but it is still more than twice the size of IPN and once InterPoker moves, the difference will of course increase. Ongame currently ranks 15th in PokerScout’s rankings with a seven-day average of 720 cash game players. It was hurt by the move of bwin.com to PartyPoker’s network in recent months, but it still has a few fairly well-known names such as Betfair, Betsson, PokerLoco, and RedKings.
Rooms on the Ongame network recently introduced the Instant Rewards system, designed to make rewards available to casual, low stakes players instead of just professional grinders. Players will be setup with various challenges to accomplish, such as winning a hand with certain hole cards, and will receive rewards for hitting those goals. Rewards can come in the form of things like cash and tournament tickets. Ongame member PAF Poker was the first to launch Instant Rewards, reporting a 30 percent increase in player activity because of it.