After waiting the better part of a year since making its intentions to move originally known, Ladbrokes has announced that it finally plans to jump from Microgaming’s MPN network to the iPoker Network.
The decision to leave MPN was made public in March, but there were details to hash out; Ladbrokes couldn’t just flip a switch in order to swap networks. Ladbrokes promised to stay on MPN until the transition to MPN could be made smoothly.
In a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on its website, Ladbrokes stated that the move will take place on Saturday, December 21st. All player balances and account details will remain unchanged, though players will need to choose new screen names. Of course, there is a chance that the new screen name could be the same as the old one, but Ladbrokes players should be prepared to find that their old name is already in use on the iPoker Network. Players’ login names and passwords will carry over.
All active bonuses will transfer, but any tournament tickets or tokens will have to be converted to cash, as they are specific to MPN. Loyalty points will transfer as well. And as a “thank you,” Ladbrokes has arranged for all of its players to enter the iPoker Network at the highest VIP level they achieved over the past twelve months. This status level will be good for one month.
Those with rakeback deals will be disappointed to find out that those deals will be cancelled in the transition. Ladbrokes touts the ability to convert loyalty to points to cash bonuses, releasable bonuses, and tournament tickets, hopefully appeasing its rakeback players.
While Ladbrokes’ departure was expected, it is yet another hit to MPN. Last week, Unibet, one of the major players on the network, announced that it will go independent in early 2014. It is looking to appeal more to recreational players and feels that “being part of a poker network is not sustainable for Unibet in the long term.”
MPN is currently ranked as the tenth largest network or poker room in terms of cash game traffic, according to PokerScout.com. Over the past seven days, it has averaged 1,350 cash game players, just 50 shy of Bodog. But with two of its largest members soon to depart, the question is not if MPN will drop out of the top ten, but how far. PokerStars.fr is 100 cash game players behind MPN and Adjarabet is another 100 behind that. After Adjarabet, it is a steep drop of 300 cash games players to Dollaro.
As for Ladbrokes’ destination, iPoker is the second largest cash game destination on the internet with a seven day average of 2,500 cash game players.
Ladbrokes’ casino games will remain with Microgaming until the spring of 2014.
