Bwin Completes Sale of Ongame Poker Room to Amaya Gaming

In March 2011, Bwin merged with Party Gaming to form one of the world’s largest online gambling firms.  Party Gaming has the popular PartyPoker brand under its umbrella, and Bwin began looking for options to sell off its Ongame internet poker site.  Last week, Bwin confirmed that the Ongame has officially been sold to Amaya Gaming in a massive €15 million deal.

The deal was still in question through most of October due to competition with the US Company Shuffle Master, who had initially made an offer of €29.5 million.  However, the company later withdrew their offer, and removed themselves from the purchase process entirely.

The deal with Amaya also offers the opportunity for a further €10 million if online gaming in the US is legally regulated within the next five years.  That offer is contingent on federal regulation, but likely will be negotiated to a smaller deal if certain states choose to regulate.

Ongame runs its own online poker network that spans the world, along with regional networks in France, Italy, and Spain.  Ongame is also considered the fifth largest network for real money gamers, but with Bwin players receiving access to PartyPoker poker rooms, analysts expect Ongame’s popularity to decline.

Amaya has nevertheless decided to put together pieces for building a bigger domain in the online gambling world.  The gaming company has previously completed purchases of developers Cryptologic and Chartwell Technology, and hopes the addition of Ongame’s online poker rooms will increase its following.