Blanca Games, based in Antigua and a hitherto little-known commodity as far as the online gaming world was concerned, announced on the August 26th 2010 that it has acquired the Cereus Poker Network.
Although barely two years old, the Cereus Poker Network is one of the largest networks of its kind in the world and was founded when the player base of well-known brands Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet (subsequently renamed UB.com) were combined.
Details of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but former owners of Cereus, Tokwiro Enterprises, plan to issue a press release in the next few days.
Meanwhile Chief Executive Officer of Blanca Games, Stuart Gordon, has issued his own press release. “From our perspective, we have acquired a large, sophisticated online gaming operation with state-of-the art capabilities, ranging from compliance to business intelligence to online marketing to customer service. We see a tremendous growth opportunity in this deal and beyond, as Blanca seeks additional acquisitions in the market."
Blanca Games Inc was set up initially by Gordon - who also owns bingomania.com and Helix Gaming International - with the express purpose of buying up other online gaming outlets. Watch this space for more possible Blanca Games acquisitions.
At this early stage it is difficult to gauge the significance of the deal, yet Blanca Games Inc is keen to emphasise the need to be ever-vigilant as far as security is concerned. “Security is and will remain our top priority” added Gordon, a sentiment that should come as a relief to players in a domain recently tainted by high-profile gaming scandals. Gordon is also keen to ensure that “player-friendly” customer relations will continue to be monitored and improved. It has also been reported that Cereus employees have been assured that no major operational or staffing changes are planned.
Commitments such as these will certainly help to reassure those in the online gaming world and that can only serve to generate a positive reaction among the poker-playing community to the deal, and also the users of Cereus sites who should see no changes in the way games are conducted.
