Bovada sells online poker asset to newbie Ignition Casino

The announcement Tuesday by online gambling operator Bovada that it has sold its successful online poker asset to newbie company Ignition Casino has triggered much speculation on poker forums like twoplustwo, with posters examining the similarities between the two companies and trying guess at the rationale behind the deal.

It appears that only the poker assets of Bovada are included in the agreement – the Bovada online casino, race book, and online sports book will continue to operate under the Bovada brand.

The company announcement read:

“We have an important announcement to share with you: Bovada Poker has been acquired by Ignition Casino. The acquisition will require all poker players to transfer their account by September 30. Following this date, Bovada Poker will no longer be available, however, access to Bovada’s sportbook, casino and racebook products will remain.

“Because Ignition Casino uses the same platform as Bovada Poker, everything you enjoy such as; anonymous tables, Zone poker, mobile poker and guaranteed tournaments, like the weekly $100K, will be there waiting for you. Additionally, until the transition is complete, both sites will operate simultaneously with shared player pools.

“We’ll do everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible so please be sure to visit our Migration FAQ page. There you’ll find information on account transfers, how to score generous migration bonus, what to do with your Poker Points and any other question you may have.

“We’re fully confident in Ignition Casino’s ability to offer an equal level of service and security you’ve been used to at Bovada. Find out more by checking out their website today.”

Ignition Casino is a relatively new arrival (launched this year) on the online gambling scene and operates Latvian-domained sites CafeCasino.lv and Slots.lv in addition to Ignition Casino.eu. The owner is listed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission as Lynton Ltd.

Ignition offers online casino gaming along with poker and has hitherto been a skin on the Bovada poker network.

Interestingly, Bovada holds the only other Latvian domain; according to the KGC the owner of Bovada is Salmon River Technologies, and like Lynton Ltd little is known or published on the company.

The Bovada and Ignition websites are very similar to one another, posters on 2+2 point out as they seek an explanation on why a successful US-facing online poker enterprise like Bovada would suddenly sell off its poker interests to a little known newcomer for an undisclosed consideration.

Some posters have gone as far as to suggest that the deal is between closely related companies, suggesting similarities in the manner in which Bodog created Bovada back in 2011.

Bovada – Bodog – Ignition poker player pool sharing will remain in place until October 1 after which Bovada involvement will fall away, leaving Bodog and Ignition as partners.

Player points will not be transferred, but Bovada is offering several ways for players to cash these in.

Independent statistics on Bovada from online poker monitor Poker Scout illustrate a company that has been consistently successful in the online poker market over the past few years, making the mystery of its sale more intriguing.

Our readers may recall that Bodog was originally founded by Calvin Ayre at the turn of the century, but following the passage of the UIGEA in 2006 the entrepreneur sold the online gambling operational part of the business to the Kahnawake-based Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, which in turn founded the US-facing Bovada group following Black Friday in April 2011, migrating all players to the Bovada brand.

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