Microgaming Poker tenth anniversary
Tuesday March 19,2013 : A DECADE OF ONLINE POKER FROM MICROGAMING
Online gambling industry pioneer celebrates tenth anniversary of its internet poker offering
The Isle of Man-based internet gambling software developer and provider Microgaming celebrates a landmark in its business activities this week – a decade of online poker operations.
Originally branded Prima Poker, then more recently the Microgaming Poker Network, the network (MPN) has been a top destination for online poker players since its launch in March 2003. In its early years, the network signed up some of gaming’s biggest brands and before long was dealing millions of hands daily.
Over the years, the MPN has shown repeatedly that it is willing to innovate and try new things. It was first to market with Survivor Tournaments, a fast-paced tournament format in which players with the smallest chip stacks are periodically eliminated. The MPN was also the first network to launch a mobile client for Android devices; the first to offer Anonymous Tables; and was among the first networks to offer a fast-fold poker variant, Blaze Poker.
2011 saw the formation of the Network Management Board (NMB), a group which includes operator representatives and independent industry experts, that is tasked with steer the network in the right direction. One of the NMB’s first successes was True Value, a unique method of allocating rake to operators, which rewards those who acquire and reactivate players.
Today, the network is home to a number of new operators – Betsson, Paf and iGame Malta Ltd, to name a few – in addition to long-standing licensees such as Unibet, Stan James and 32Red.
Lydia Melton, head of network games at Microgaming, says: “We’ve seen so many changes on the network and in the industry in the last ten years – the rise of regulated markets and loss of other markets, software innovation and nearly five billion hands dealt at our tables. I’m really excited about what could happen in the next ten years.”
Ed Ware, CEO of operator 32Red, adds: “We continue to be very pleased with the poker platform provided by Microgaming and have been part of their poker network since 2003. MPN has consistently adapted to the online poker environment throughout the years and is today well positioned to continue to provide a successful poker solution.”
