UNIBET TO JOIN MICROGAMING POKER NETWORK

(191) (30-jul-06)

Major Scandinavian betting group to move over all online poker operations

The major online Scandinavian betting group Unibet is planning to leave the B2B - 24Hr poker network and move completely to the Microgaming Poker Network by September 2006, a company spokesman revealed this week.
 
Since the acquisition of French-language MrBookmaker in August 2005, Unibet had been running two poker platforms, B2B and Microgaming. The move to one common technology provider will take effect from September this year.
 
Petter Nylander , chief executive of Unibet, said: "When I joined Unibet I wanted to have a clear strategy that would focus on customer acquisition, retention and brand. We wanted to focus on our core product, focusing on our front end to maximise our bookmaking experience while working with world class poker or casino suppliers."
 
With MrBookmaker already on the Microgaming network, Nylander says the Isle of Man based software company's strength in casino games was another factor that influenced his decision. "In the short term we will have bigger tournaments and higher liquidity. We think the future of poker will be where players are offered a poker-casino hybrid kind of game where they are able to play casino-style games during hands. Microgaming is one of the leading developers of those types of games."

Nylander said that many platforms have been thoroughly evaluated by the company for over a year, and Microgaming are deemed to provide the best offering for Unibet´s customers.

Unibet will achieve several advantages by streamlining this technological platform: a single platform means safer and more cost-effective development and maintenance. The Microgaming platform also offers significantly better potential for the development of more games in the future, Nylander said.  "All players from 21 countries will now have the possibility to challenge each other and we can improve our offer of poker and create attractive tournaments and more playable tables."