The deal had been known about for around a week, but yesterday NYX Gaming Group officially announced that it has acquired the Ongame Network from Amaya Gaming. This marks the second transfer of Ongame in two years.
No specific dollar amount was given in the press release, but the purchase prices is said to be eight times Ongame’s EBITDA. Additionally, “Amaya invested in NYX Gaming through its subscription for a $10 million (€8.1 million) unsecured convertible debenture, thereby expanding the existing relationship between the parties.”
Matt Davey, CEO of NYX Gaming, said of the deal, “Ongame is renowned in the gaming industry for its excellent poker products, platform and service. Not only does this acquisition provide NYX Gaming Group with one of the best poker products in the industry, it also gives us access to products that are regulated in several jurisdictions, and more importantly a talent pool that can help grow all parts of our business.”
The NYX Gaming Group develops lottery, bingo, and casino systems and has a library of over 300 games. It won the EGR (eGaming Review) B2B Award for Social Gaming Supplier of the Year in 2012 and RNG Casino Supplier of the Year in 2013.
The Ongame Network was acquired by Amaya Gaming from bwin.party in the fall of 2012. The initial payment for the poker network was $19.3 million (€15 million) with potential payments of up to $12.9 million (€10 million) if online gaming became legal in the U.S. within five years. This writer does not know for certain if internet gambling being regulated in three states counts partially, completely, or not at all, or if it had to be on a federal level. The Ongame Network, originally owned by bwin, had become a “surplus asset” when bwin merged with PartyGaming.
Word was that Amaya had been looking to dump the Ongame Network, so this comes as no surprise. With Amaya’s $4.9 billion blockbuster purchase of the Rational Group, which includes the world’s largest online poker room PokerStars as well as Full Tilt Poker, Ongame became a surplus asset yet again. There was likely no reason to spend resources on it when you have by far the biggest brand in online poker plus the revived Full Tilt name.
According to PokerScout.com, the Ongame Network has been trending fairly flat over the last six months with a seven day average of 300 cash game players. Long term, though, it has been trending down, now ranked as only the 25th largest network or poker room on the internet. Gifted with the wonderful name PokerRoom.com when the online poker boom started about a decade ago, it was one of the premier poker destinations on the internet. It slumped a bit in its Ongame days, but was still a top ten network for a number of years. There are 25 rooms on the network, including InterPoker, PokerHeaven, and Betsson.