In the past, the Ongame Network was a top contender when it came to online poker gaming. The network is now reportedly preparing to shut down. Pokeroff.ru is a poker affiliate based in Russia that has claimed that Ongame will be shutting down by the 15th of October. The network is now averaging about 100 customers at peak times, so the network is far from the top operator it once was.
Ongame was hit when the network had to remove services in the United States, after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in 2006, and has never seemed to get back on their feet. By 2011, Bwin, the owner of Ongame, started their merger with PartyGaming. Within this merger, the bran of PartyPoker was considered the better option for poker gaming so Ongame was considered a surplus asset.
By the very next year, in 2012, Amaya Gaming had acquired the Ongame brand. By 2014, Amaya Gaming was able to acquire PokerStars and Full Tilt, thus making Ongame obsolete once again. Ongame was then taken over by the NYX Gaming Group and NYX was then plagued with losses in the seven figure range. This past April, NYX decided to sell the European-facing operations of Ongame to an unidentified party, who has now decided to stop operations.
In the deal involving the mystery party and NYX, the brand and software of Ongame of North America will remain under ownership by NYX so there is a possibility that Ongame could be back in action in the future. If and when though is certainly up the in air.