Weekly Roundup August 14 2015
Amaya Gaming Buys Fantasy Sports Site
Amaya Gaming, parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, entered the fantasy sports business this week. The acquired site is known as Victiv. It will be rebranded as StarsDraft, referring to its powerful PokerStars name. This will give the Stars brand access to legal online gambling in the U.S. while it waits to enter the regulated New Jersey market and future states.
iPoker Tiers Merge
iPoker abolished its separate tiers this week. There were two tiers with higher volume sites gaining access to ringfenced tables. This was created to try and put an end to poaching players between skins and reward those that brought new players to the network on a regular basis. iPoker moved to a source based rake model earlier this year. That change appears to be the reason that the network was merged. It rendered the separate tiers obsolete.
iPoker is currently the fourth largest poker network in the world. It trails PokerStars, 888 and Bodog.
Full Tilt Announces VIP Club Changes
Full Tilt is rolling out a new VIP program. It is called Edge. Players will achieve tiers based on 30 or 100-day average of FTPs earned. Qualifying players will earn $1, $1.50 or $2 per 100 FTPs earned. Less popular games will allow players to earn double points while giving action. The new VIP club will replace the existing program in the coming months.