This is complicated, but we’ll try to make it as clear as possible: Ladbrokes does not accept players from the US into its poker rooms, but it will allow some of its high stakes players to compete against US players already in the Microgaming network.
Ladbrokes’ half year results showed a 6% gross win, but there was an impact from the decline in high rollers, which reduced the net profit in 22%. Although the company showed growth on the online section, poker revenues fell by 6% and active customers were reduced by 5%.
Ladbrokes’ CEO Christopher Bell put a brave face on these mixed results, declaring:
I am pleased with the group’s performance which has continued to show resilience against a challenging economic backdrop. We remain focused on growing our business organically through increased investment in customer acquisition, retention and loyalty, utilising our flexible and integrated systems across all our business channels.
It seems Ladbrokes is indeed tapping into those business channels, as it was announced today that Ladbrokes will open some of its high stakes poker tables to the rest of the Microgaming network, which as a matter of course accepts US players.
There are several sides to this decision. To begin with, many gaming operators who had to step out of the US market after the UIGEA were left at a serious disadvantage: operators who kept their US players had access to significantly more high stakes play, since European high rollers would flock to the tables looking for more action than they got in the non-US-friendly sites.
Then there is the fact that, although Ladbrokes is powered by Microgaming, it has remained separate from the rest of the network, meaning Ladbrokes players could only play against each other. This made for a relatively small player pool, especially at the nosebleed stakes.
The announced move means that, starting in 2009, high stakes players from Ladbrokes will be able to play against other high rollers in the network, including those from the US. This opens the door to more merging possibilities, and industry experts are wondering if Ladbrokes is considering merging its entire player base to Microgaming’s, which would triple Ladbroke’s cash player flow at peak hours.
Such a merger would also place Ladbrokes and Microgaming in a better position to face the new kid on the block: the new Cereus Network, result of the merge of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.
