Press releases from both Ongame and bwin.party today confirm that Montreal-based Amaya Gaming has entered into an agreement to buy the Ongame network.
Amaya will pay an initial €15m ($19.3m), with additional payments up to €10m ($12.9m) over the next 5 years, contingent on the regulation of online gaming in the United States.
The deal with Amaya has been known for some time. The final sale price is higher than originally expected.
The Amaya deal is similar to the earlier agreement with Shuffle Master. In March 2012 Shuffle Master agreed to pay €19.5m for the network plus up to €10m over five years following “the commencement of legalized, real-money online poker in the US.” However, the gaming supplier pulled out of the deal in June.
How much of the €10m is paid out “will depend upon the extent of the regulation based upon the number of states that regulate and the total population covered,” according to the press release.
The deal is expected to complete by the end of the year, pending regulatory approvals and is subject to certain terms and conditions.
Players at bwin, one of the largest skins on Ongame, will be migrated to the PartyPoker platform prior to the deal’s completion.
No press release from Amaya has been issued yet, although David Baazov, Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Gaming, had the following to say:
The acquisition of Ongame bolsters Amaya Gaming’s product portfolio, transforming Amaya into a leading provider of gaming platforms. Amaya looks forward to unleashing Ongame’s technology to its full potential through the leveraging of our many B2B relationships and delivering new partners and players to the network. The Ongame platform is scalable, proven and secure and is well suited for quick deployment in new regulated markets. We’re excited about the wide range of opportunities this acquisition makes possible for us as we execute on our vision.”
