Shuffle Master Nears Purchase of Ongame Network

 The casino manufacturing company Shuffle Master is reportedly ready to purchase the Ongame Network, making them the latest in a long line of American gambling firms who have pursued strategic partnerships in order to prepare for a possibly regulated online poker market in the USA.

The likely purchase comes after a long period in which bwin.party – the company created after a merger between bwin and Party Gaming – has looked to unload the Ongame Poker Network. While Ongame has remained one of the major players in the online poker world (the network generally ranks around 6^th in terms of poker room traffic at any given time), it was still seen as redundant given the company’s ownership of the larger Party Poker.

The sale of the Ongame Network represents a significant loss for bwin.party. In 2005, bwin purchased the network for a whopping £474 million. However, the years since have seen many hits to the online poker market, as well as a lack of growth for Ongame in comparison to competitors. The result is a reported selling price to Shuffle Master of just £13 million – less than 3% of what bwin paid just seven years earlier.

It is unclear exactly how much of the Ongame Network will end up in Shuffle Master’s hands. The largest room on the network is bwin.com’s poker site; while it is possible that bwin will maintain the site as an operator on the network, they could also attempt to absorb their players into Party Poker. Given the change in ownership, it’s also possible that other rooms could leave the network, or that new operators could join the group.

While moves such as these are clearly being made in order to capitalize should the United States decide to regulate online poker at the federal level, it seems unlikely that any such national poker legislation would pass until at least 2013, and it would then take time to set up a regulatory framework before sites could begin operation. However, some companies may also try to gain a foothold in various states that are considering online poker, such as Nevada and Iowa.