Mybet Shuts its Unprofitable Poker Site

German gambling firm Mybet.com runs a successful sportsbook and casino operation, but one part of its business which has produced less than stellar results over the past few years is its online poker vertical. In fact, last year online poker contributed just €1 million ($1.1m) in revenues towards the company’s total revenues of €63 million ($70m), and as a result Mybet has now shut down its poker skin effective from June 30th. As Mybet Holdings CEO Zeno Osskó explains:
“The Poker business contributed with only a minor share to our revenue and delivered virtually no contribution to the operating result of the group. In addition, we do not see a sufficient growth potential in this area to support the operational turnaround in the short-term.”
The Mybet poker site was one of the smaller skins to run on the iPoker Network, and anyone who failed to withdraw their funds from the site before it shut its doors at the end of June will now have their money automatically transferred over to the casino and sportsbook’s main wallet.
The iPoker Network currently ranks at number 5 in terms of global traffic with around 1,000 cash-game players over a seven-day period, just below PartyPoker (1,100), Bodog (1,200), and 888poker (1,800). Consequently, players on the iPoker Network are not likely to notice any meaningful change in traffic after the closure.
The development comes as Mybet implements a fundamental strategic reorientation of its business following a disappointing 2015 in which the company made an €8 million operating loss. In Q1 of 2016, the firm’s business had also fallen by 11% compared to the previous year , and as CEO Zeno Osskó explains:
“Key focus is the sports betting and casino games as well as the implementation of a new high-performance IT platform for the whole product range. The introduction of the new platform is planned to take place between the middle of July and the beginning of August.”