by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Jun 28, 2012 | Updated on Jun 28, 2012Ever since the merger of Party Gaming and bwin, it was clear that the two companies held some redundant assets. One of these redundancies existed in the online poker sphere, where Party brought the powerful Party Poker brand, while bwin held the very successful Ongame Poker network. When bwin.party decided they didn’t need both, they looked to sell Ongame, and appeared to have a willing partner in Shuffle Master, a Las Vegas-based gaming company looking to get into online poker ahead of potential regulation in the United States.But today, it appears as though such a deal is off. The proposed €29.5 million purchase was cancelled today after, according to a bwin.party statement, both sides “mutually agreed not to proceed with the proposed transaction.” Bwin.party’s statement went on to say that they are now in talks with other parties who may be interested in purchasing the Ongame Network.According to officials at Shuffle Master, they had become less interested in the deal based on analysis of the expected future performance of the network.“It has become evident to us that Ongame’s operations post-acquisition will not achieve the near-term results we initially expected,” said a statement by Shuffle Master CEO Gavin Issacs.While it’s unclear if there is any connection, the collapse of the deal comes just a day after the closure of Hollywood Poker, one of the best-known rooms on the Ongame Network. In addition, two other rooms – Gala Coral and Bet24 – had moved to other poker networks in recent months.It’s unclear if Shuffle Master will look to purchase another online poker asset as a replacement for Ongame. Previously, Shuffle Master had agreed to partnerships with Aristocrat Technologies and Bally Technologies to license the Ongame software in order to offer online poker in Nevada. It is also uncertain as to whether these agreements will be affected by the cancellation of this sale.Despite the failure of the sale to Shuffle Master, bwin.party says they’re committed to selling Ongame in the near future.“The sale of surplus assets, including Ongame, remains a core part of bwin.party’s strategy,” the company said in a statement.
