AbsolutePoker.com and UltimateBet.com to announce merger.

by mitchell posted Nov 2nd 2006 at 22:00PM

http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.pokeraffiliateworld.com/news/absolutepokercom-and-ultimatebetcom-to-announce-merger&title=AbsolutePoker.com and UltimateBet.com to announce merger.

This just in from a credible source egrmagazine.com. After weeks of speculation, it appears that AbsolutePoker.com and UltimateBet.com will be merging into one company. Please see the official release from egaming review below.

Absolute and Ultimate to announce merger on Monday

The wave of consolidation and mergers and acquisitions in the egaming industry continues as eGaming Review can reveal that Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are to announce their official merger on Monday.

Rumours of a buy out of Ultimate Bet by Absolute Poker had been swirling around the industry for the past few weeks.

The two sites continue to take US bets, and are looking to consolidate liquidity levels in the wake of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Both sites are already sizeable players in the online poker sector, and the combined entity is expected to create one of the top three or four largest poker sites in the world.

Details are sketchy at this point, and it is unclear how the new company will be structured and marketed to its largely US player base, though it is thought there will be a strong marketing push in the US poker market in the near future. It is also unclear how this merger will affect the staff of both companies.

Sources at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were unavailable for comment.

This is a very interesting development. I can remember back when the online poker goldrush was at it's peak and rumours of mergers and cosolidation essentially revolved around who is PartyGaming going to buy next. Speaking of which, this UltimateBet & AbsolutePoker merger is probably just the first of many. There are also rumours of a PartyPoker/888 merger.

For lack of better words, the only thing I can think of to describe what the poker affiliate industry is facing is "biblical" in a sense. You see, management at these rooms are going to have to make major decisions on what to do with players who are attached to two different affiliates but yet now could potentially be playing on one software platform.

I consider myself an expert in this industry and even I have no idea how to solve this debacle if indeed these massive poker rooms merge onto one unified platform. These mergers don't come as a surprise to me, and I truly believe it is what has to happen in this industry given the current landscape. Unfortunately it is going to make for some difficult situations in respect to the poker affiliate programs.

As the largest community of poker affiliates in the world, let's start a dialogue in our forums on our thoughts not only on the AbsolutePoker and UltimateBet merger but also on our opinions about what should happen with exsisting poker affiliates.