The online poker operation that was formerly known as the Microgaming Network has announced its plans to shut down. The brand, which is today known as MPN, expects that its operation will shut down in Q2 or Q3 of 2020. The announcement came as part of a blog post by the Managing Director for the brand, Alex Scott.
Prior to the blog post, rumours had begun to circulate regarding its closure, but there was no solid evidence to be found in relation to such. The MPN team did not initially give any word on this either.
However, in the early morning of last Friday, a member of the Two Plus Two team posted a screenshot of an email that they received. This came from One Time Poker – one of the skins of
MPN. The following information was stated in the email:
“Yesterday, we were informed by MPN it is their intention to discontinue service of their poker client.”
“This is a global decision and affects not only [One Time Poker], but all the poker rooms on the MPN network.”
“We were informed this will happen in 6-8 months time.”
It wasn’t long after this that MPN’s Managing Director, Alex Scott, posted on the Two Plus Two forums, saying that he would have a statement on proceedings within the next few hours.
Who Is Affected and MPN’s Official Statement
The MPN poker network acts as home to various major online poker platforms, and it is these brands which will now begin their search for new online poker networks. A few of the well-known sites that provide online poker via the MPN network include PAF, Grosvenor, Betsson and Betsafe. These are now the sites that can be considered as “under threat” from the closure.
MPN found itself on the losing side of things in recent years, with RedKings Poker opting to cease trading on April 28th after having switched to that network in September of 2016. Unibet also chose to leave MPN in 2014, instead deciding to utilise its own standalone platform at the time.
Speaking of the decision to close the network, MPN released an official statement to say that it came following “an extensive internal review of the software supplier’s product portfolio and strategy…”. After 16 years of operation, the statement read that it was due to this review that the company had opted to cease trading. The message was finalised, saying that access to online tournaments, promotions and cash games will remain available to players, even in the run-up to network closure.
John Coleman, Microgaming’s CEO said that the network model no longer fits with the company’s strategic vision for poker and that it is the right time to announce the closure.
he said.
Information within the FAQ of the blog post states that the Universal Championship of Poker series which is currently running will continue as advertised. Guarantees will also remain the same for this.
