Industry Surprised as Cereus Poker Network Sold

August 30 - A surprise press release on Thursday informed the poker industry that the Cereus Poker Network was sold to Blanca Games Inc.

The network, which incorporates online poker rooms UB.com and Absolute Poker, will not undergo any immediate changes, according to the new owners.

Any changes in the future would be in line to improve the network.

The CEO of Blanca Games, Stuart Gordon said in the press release:

"The acquisition of Cereus is a significant opportunity for us. Cereus is a major platform of well managed assets. Over the past few years, it has created new brands, like UB.com, that are extremely well positioned in the most desirable demographic in our market: players in the 20s and 30s age brackets."

"From our perspective," continued Gordon, "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."

Both UB.com (then Ultimate Bet) and Absolute Poker have been wracked in the past with security issues, when an undercover superuser scandal was exposed.

Nevertheless, Cereus Poker Network is considered one of the top 10 in the world and offers its products to thousands of players on the internet.