International Poker Network Shuts Shop After More Than 10 Years In Business

One of the longest running online poker networks, the International Poker Network (IPN), has announced it will soon be shutting its business after more than 10 years in the industry. The IPN, also known by its original name Boss Media, said it now plans to cease operations by the second quarter of 2014.
Boss Media was launched prior to the poker boom in 1996, and after licensing its software to customers, soon gave birth to its internet gaming network. At its peak, Boss Media/IPN had more than 2,500 cash game players spread out across 30 skins, and was ranked the sixth biggest network or poker website on the planet.
At one stage, IPN with its attractive looking software even looked like it was going to offer a viable alternative to the industry’s biggest competitors such as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and PartyPoker. Over the past few years, however, IPN failed to keep up with the times as its software became more and more dated and slow compared to other top poker rooms and in 2013, for instance, one of IPN’s oldest rooms, InterPoker, shifted to the Ongame Network, while Fortune Poker had to shut shop altogether.
As a result, IPN then slipped further and further down the traffic rankings as it lost one poker room after another and presently it is left with a mere 15 poker rooms, having now slipped to 31 in PokerScout’s traffic rankings with an average of 220 cash game players over a seven day period.
Nevertheless, IPN customers should not be worried about their online funds as the network’s parent company, GTECH, is a global player in the regulated online gaming market and as such is financially stable. Quite simply, the company has decided to shift its attention to its country-specific regulated platforms, such as Svenska Spel, Canadian Poker Network, Poker Club Italia and Spain Poker Network.