Canada’s Amaya Gaming Group has announced the addition of German gambling outfit mybet Holding SE (the former JAXX SE) to Amaya’s Ongame poker network. The Malta-licensed Mybet, whose poker room formerly resided on Playtech’s iPoker network, will now use Ongame software for mybet.com as well as on its Italian-facing mybet.it site. Amaya and mybet have a lengthy history, with mybet having used casino software from Cryptologic – which Amaya acquired in 2012 – since 2005. The new deal will also see mybet utilize Amaya’s live dealer casino product. Amaya CEO David Baazov said the deal “illustrates the importance of our full-suite product strategy.”
Merge Gaming Network players may have noticed the player pool diminishing after poker rooms on the Jazette family of sportsbooks – including Sportsbook.com and PlayersOnly – began segregating their tables from the rest of the network. There’s been no official confirmation of Jazette’s move to create its own sub-network within Merge, but sometime around the beginning of May, all cash and SNG tables were made off-limits to non-Jazette players. The lasting effect this will have on the already struggling Merge is unclear, but grinders will have to take up sports betting in order to play against sports betting fish.
Minted Poker has fled the floundering Everleaf Gaming Network to take up residence on the tiny Curacao-licensed Plutos Network. According to emails sent to players, Minted is now “under new management” and “if you had funds in your Everleaf account or a pending cashout you may find there is a non deposit bonus in your new account.” Said bonus is subject to 1x play-through, assuming you can find someone to play against.
Finally, French online poker affiliate Poker52.fr has reported that Partouche Poker will close its French-facing site by this summer. The move apparently follows Monday’s Canal + television broadcast about allegations that relatives of Groupe Partouche chief Patrick Partouche were gifted tens of thousands of euros to play on his site. While there was no suggestion of cheating, allowing relatives to play on his site would be in violation of French gaming regulations, and gaming regulator ARJEL was reported to be opening an investigation after the allegations first surfaced in February.
Partouche, who has made no secret of his disdain for the restrictions of France’s regulated online poker market, reportedly posted a somewhat bitter Facebook message following Monday’s broadcast listing all the things he’d done to promote poker in France, but “when the game turns sordid” it was time to “leave the table.” Partouche is known for his impetuous decisions, including his cancellation of the Partouche Poker Tour last September after he tried to wiggle out of delivering on a guaranteed prize pool.
