If ever there was one thing that Empire Poker Room was lacking in the past, it would be software graphics.  However, that is not the case anymore. Empire has just bought out Noble Poker Room and Club Dice Casino for $40 million.  Club Dice, which has a player base of over 70,000 players, also owns and operates Noble Poker Room, both of which are Playtech Software licensees.  And Playtech Software means better graphics for Empire Poker.  The entire player database, online casino license, software license, and all brand and intellectual property is being handed over to Empire for the full $40 million.

The main reason for the purchase was to diversify, according to Empire CEO Noam Lanir.  This surmounts to obtaining better software while strengthening their presence in the online casino industry - two fields Empire Poker strongly lacked in before.  In the first part of the current year Empire made only $5 million from casino related activity, whereas it brought in over $20 million in online poker activity.  It seems the obvious choice to make for Empire to upgrade its PartyGaming Software to that of PlayTech's - Although it would be a significant loss for PartyGaming, since Empire brings in over 20% of PartyGaming's liquid assets.

If Empire does indeed move over to Playtech's poker platform, Empire should expect a tremendous increase in players.  Playtech software is the best in the business, offering 3-D graphics and realistic playing modes.  As for Noble Poker Room, Empire is looking to jumpstart it with a new marketing campaign since its profit margin was not the best in the world. If they use the same approach they have so successfully mastered with their own poker room, this should not be hard at all.

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