SEGA Shuts Down Online Casino, Poker

SEGA Games has shut down its poker and casino sites, less than one year after they were both launched.

The sites, SEGApoker and SEGAcasino, were launched in late 2009 after SEGA Games, a subsidiary of the leading Japanese software company SEGA Corporation, received a full license from the Gambling Control Commission of Alderney, in the British Channel Islands.

Both sites were shut down unexpectedly last week with a message displayed telling customers that they could no longer accept registrations or deposits. Customers can still withdraw funds, according to SEGA.




Neither SEGA Games nor Playtech, the software company that powered the poker and casino sites, have given reasons for the sudden closures.

The SEGA casino site offered a unique portfolio of 125 games, including the regular Playtech offering from slots and blackjack, along with specific SEGA themed games such as Virtua Fighter and the House of the Dead, Phantasy Star and Nights.

Of course, the SEGA brand goes way back, with the company rising to prominence in the 1980s and 1990 following the release of the SEGA Master System and later SEGA Mega Drive and the release of such classics as Sonic the Hedgehog.



Given its successful past, it will be interesting to see if the brand makes another foray into the online gambling industry in the near future.