Online Gambling Shut Down’s and Exits in 2012
Online Sector: Migration’s, Shut Down’s and Exits:
Ongame Poker Network skin Hollywood Poker shut down its operations and customer accounts were transferred to fellow Ongame skin RedKings Poker.
5050Poker had its contract with Microgaming terminated for material breach followed by its licence suspended by the LGA. It subsequently was delisted from the Swedish Nasdaq First North Exchange and has gone into liquidation.
188bet withdrew from the German market.
Iliad Gaming exited the French market. Websites Chilipoker.fr and Chilipari.fr, run in partnership with Gameinvest Holdings, were shuttered while Itechsoft took over Iliad’s Turbopoker.fr.
Rounders Row online poker room departed the Everleaf network and found a new home with Poker Pros Network, owned by CMK Interactive Systems S.A. out of Costa Rica.
French online poker rooms Mypok and PokerXtrem merged under the Mypok brand and migrated from MPN to a poker network developed by Partouche Interactive.
William Hill plc discontinued its sports betting services to the German market.
Bodog withdrew its services from: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Poker operation Heritage Sportsbook joined the Winning Poker Network (formerly the Yatahay Network).
Malta-licensed online poker room Bluff Gaming on the Enet poker network shut down. Siter site Bluff Room on the Merge Gaming Network is tipped to follow.
CelebPoker and Dracula Poker are both shutting down, with players being directed to Titan Poker.
Everest Poker abandoned its proprietary software and joined Playtech’s iPoker network.
Sportech betting subsidiary Vernons will no longer accept Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Pakistan, Poland, Russia and Sweden.
French operators who requested revocation of license approvals from ARJEL included SNAI France SAS and bwin.party's Electraworks SAS (partybets.fr and gamebookers.fr) in the sportsbetting category along with The Nation Traffic SAS (Titan Poker.fr)and Full Fun (PokerXtrem) in the category online poker.
International Game Technologies’ IGT Poker Network (formerly Entraction) to close down December 11, 2012.
The Microgaming Poker Network signed iGame Malta with its player base of over a million members. Skins include 24hPoker.com, Pokerihuone.com, Casinohuone.com, NoiQ.com and iGame.com.
BetVictor will consolidate its online poker business with the migration of its players to the Microgaming Poker Network effectively making the network BetVictor's exclusive poker provider.
Red Star Poker, an online poker room on the Revolution Gaming Network, no longer accepts new US player sign-ups.
IButler Casino.com and Bet821.com shut down.
Cake Poker's US players to be moved to the company's sister poker room Juicy Stakes Poker. – Another three more Revolution Gaming sites, all owned by the Gibraltar-based Domain Holdings Limited and IP Limited, transferred their US players to Juicy Stakes namely; Colt Poker, HiLife Poker and Fugu Poker.
Cardbet.com has been recruited by Betting Promotion on the back of IGT's poker network shut-down. Cardbet will migrate its sports betting offering to utilise Betting Promotion's Bet Power product.
Later in the week, Cardbet.com announced that it and its four white label skins Suomi Vegas.com, Mets Poker.com, M8 Poker.com and Pro-Factory.com will migrate to the Tain platform following IGT's notice of closure of its poker network.
