The United Kingdom’s Amateur Association & Tour (APAT) has acquired the poker.co.uk website as the start of a new online poker venture for its members.
The soon-to-be revamped site will be hosted on the GTECH G2 network (also known as Boss Media or the International Poker Network), and if APAT is successful in converting a significant percentage of its members to its online site, would also represent sizeable growth for the small network.
APAT is a 50,000-member club of poker players in the United Kingdom, which launched the UK’s first national poker tour in 2006. APAT’s growth has allowed it to sponsor events outside the UK in recent years, including Spain and at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
APAT has acquired the existing database and players of poker.co.uk, with a formal rebranding to APAT Poker taking place later this year. Non-UK players appear to be welcomed on the new site, though membership marketing is likely to give the site a decidedly British flavor in the coming months.
The site will be used to offer online satellites into live APAT events in addition to other online poker offerings. Previously, APAT had run sponsored events on several different UK-facing sites.
Existing poker.co.uk operations will be absorbed all in or part by APAT, with poker.co.uk founder Matt Dale joining APAT as its new Online Poker Director.
The GTECH G2 network consists of over 40 skins, and launched its new v8 client back in March. But its done nothing to stop the steady decline in player numbers, which has seen GTECH G2 shrink to less than half its size in the last year.
