Amaya Gaming Group Inc. is poised to purchase the Ongame Poker Network, just months after a deal with Shuffle Master fell through, according to a source familiar with negotiations.
The announcement could be made as early as next month at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.
Montreal-based Amaya, an entertainment solutions provider for the regulated gaming industry, is reportedly worth in excess of $300m. The company lost $3 million in 2011 and has reported $7 million in losses already in 2012.
The company purchased online casino games developer Cryptologic earlier in 2012 which still left Amaya without a piece of online poker.
The 8-year-old Amaya lists its partners and clients as governments, lotteries, casinos and hospitality operators in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
The deal comes about three months after prominent Vegas casino equipment maker Shuffle Master decided not to purchase Ongame.
Shuffle Master had gone so far as to announce that it would purchase the bwin.party network for €19.5m plus an additional €10m over a five-year period following “the commencement of legalized, real-money online poker in the US.”
After that acquisition fell through in June, Bwin.party reaffirmed its commitment to sell the poker network, saying they were “re-engaging with other third parties that have expressed interest.”
Reports immediately began to surface that Zynga was interested in Ongame. However, the social gaming giant fell out of the running last month as talks became more serious with other suitors.
