- The majority of online poker skins on MPN have completed their migration over to Playtech’s iPoker network.
- By all accounts, both the closure and all the transitions went smoothly.
- “Thank you for joining us on this epic journey, and for your support all these years.”
- The Betsson brands, Paf and Coolbet add a focus on Scandinavian markets.
- Red Star Poker also adds a significant footprint in Eastern Europe.
- The only MPN émigré not to land at iPoker is Olybet, which went live on GGPoker weeks ago.
The majority of online poker skins on MPN have completed their migration over to Playtech’s iPoker network, transitioning their players onto the new platform smoothly. Microgaming’s poker network MPN, after 17 years in the business, has shut for good.
By all accounts, both the closure and the transitions went smoothly, a testament to the professionalism of all teams involved in the largest migration in recent online poker history.
“Thank you for joining us on this epic journey, and for your support all these years,” the network Twitter account posted on Tuesday, May 19. Around mid-morning European time, the Microgaming Poker Network closed its doors.
“From all of us at the MPN—we’ll meet again,” it added.
The Passage to iPoker
Of the 16 online poker rooms active on MPN when the network announced its shutdown some eight months ago, three subsequently closed their doors; 13 were active until the end.
Of those, nine made the switch to iPoker successfully on Tuesday. A tenth, Guts.com, is expected to move to iPoker as well, though its migration will not be immediate.
Of the remaining three, OlyBet is live on competing network GGPoker; 32Red shut down on the final day with no plans to migrate; and the fate of One Time Poker remains unknown, but closure seems most likely.
“We expect a significant increase of our game liquidity with all the new brands moving to our network,” said Marat Koss, Head of Poker at Playtech, in an exclusive interview with PRO published as skins were starting their migration yesterday.
“The increase is mainly coming from the fact we’re diversifying our regional reach,” he added, “many of the newcomers are serving local markets that iPoker don’t have much exposure to [until] now.”
