Empire Poker sold to Party Poker

One of the most popular online poker rooms has been sold off to its biggest online gambling competition. As it was reported today, the owner of Empire poker Noam Lanir, one of the biggest online poker rooms in the world, is selling his remaining shares to their most rivaled competitor - Party Poker, for around $40 million.

Most players did not know, but Empire Poker used to be a skin of Party Poker, which meant that players from both poker rooms played at the same time at the same place. However, this came to an end when Party Poker decided to cut off their numerous skins.

Empire Poker was a publicly traded company at the time of the new US law, prohibiting financial transactions to online poker rooms, and the company got an enormous hit on its value, falling down to a little over $240 million from almost $930 million an year an a half ago.

This all seems as a new trend in the Israeli-owned online gambling businesses, following the Ladbroke's deal to purchase 888 Holdings, and the recent "interest" from the Israeli police in the online gambling companies operating in the country. Rumors also circulate that Party Poker will reopen its doors again to US players, but they have not yet been confirmed (or dismissed) by the management.

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