Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet to merge

[Ian_go]

The wave of consolidation and mergers and acquisitions in the egaming industry continues as eGaming Review can reveal that Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are to announce their official merger on Monday.
Rumours of a buy out of Ultimate Bet by Absolute Poker had been swirling around the industry for the past few weeks.

The two sites continue to take US bets, and are looking to consolidate liquidity levels in the wake of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Both sites are already sizeable players in the online poker sector, and the combined entity is expected to create one of the top three or four largest poker sites in the world.

Details are sketchy at this point, and it is unclear how the new company will be structured and marketed to its largely US player base, though it is thought there will be a strong marketing push in the US poker market in the near future. It is also unclear how this merger will affect the staff of both companies.

Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were unavailable for comment.

from egr magazine.