Ignition Casino Acquires Bovada Poker

Home » Poker News » Ignition Casino Acquires Bovada Poker

Saturday, August 27th, 2016 | Written by Stephen Smith

Bovada is a name that many American poker players may recognize as it was one of the few that continued to allow people in the United States to play online poker in recent years. However, Bovada has now sold its online poker operation to Ignition Casino, a business owned by Lynton Limited. Ignition Casino launched in the spring earlier this year, and following its acquisition of Bovada a company statement read:

“Ignition Casino has acquired full ownership and proprietary rights of the Bovada poker business.”

The End is Nigh

Following announcement of the sale, Bovada posted a message letting players know about the change, with the message stating that as of September 30, 2016, poker will no longer be offered on the website.

Players are therefore being encouraged to transfer their online poker accounts to Ignition Casino, and those who do will get a $10 free cash bonus, as well as a $100 poker deposit drip bonus. In addition, Ignition Casino will match the first $1,100 that the player deposits and give them one free roll ticket.

Player Pooling Will Continue

To ensure liquidity, Bovada pooled players with Bodog, with the latter site catering primarily to the Asian online gambling market. Ignition Casino will continue to enjoy this arrangement, meaning that liquidity should increase for players who are already using the site.

PokerScout has ranked the Bodog/Bovada player pool as the third largest in the world with 1,400 cash game players over a 7-day period. Compare that to PartyPoker in 4th place, which currently manages a 7-day moving average of just 900 ring-game players, or the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) in 6th place with 850 cash game players.

Of course, there is always a risk that players will not choose to move their accounts to Ignition Casino, which could mean the liquidity may drop in the future.

A Pioneer of the Recreational Model

Bodog/Bovada was one of the pioneers of the Recreational Poker Model (RPM) in which innovations were introduced in order to level the playing field between online amateur players and professional grinders. The new approach was introduced in late 2011, and was seen as a necessary step towards reversing the declines experienced in the online poker market noted over the previous few years.

Ways in which Bodog/Bovada went about making the poker experience of players more enjoyable by making their online monetary deposits last longer included abandoning rakeback program which favored pros, as well as doing away with excessive multi-tabling, bum-hunting, and the use of poker-tracking software.

As Ignition shares the same poker software platform as Bovada, the new site will therefore continue to offer the same innovations which has made Bovada one of the most popular sites in the world for recreational players. Elaborating further in the e-mail it sent to its customers, Bovada explained:

“Ignition Casino uses the same platform as Bovada, so the features you enjoy such as anonymous tables, Zone poker, mobile poker and guaranteed tournaments, like the weekly $100K, will be there waiting for you. Both sites will also operate simultaneously with shared player pools until the transition is complete. Any Poker Points that you have accrued on Bovada will need to be used before September 30 as they will not carry over to Ignition Casino.”

What’s Behind the Sale?

There are a number of rumors circulating about what might have motivated the sale of Bovada’s online poker business, with some believing that the company might be wary of another seizure by a government agency. Bodog’s U.S. site was seized by the U.S. Department of Justice within just a couple of months of its launch; however, the fact that Bovada’s sports betting, bingo and casino site are all operating under the same domain name decreases the likelihood that this is the motivation.

Another possible motivation could be that Lynton Limited is looking ahead at the current landscape of online poker, and taking steps to prepare for the potential of legalization occurring soon in California, Pennsylvania or New York. If this were to happen, the company would be well-placed to partner with a land-based casino, and tap into the new market.