Free-to-play US online poker operator Cafrino has announced the acquisition for an undisclosed consideration of the National League of Poker (NLOP) social poker enterprise.
The two companies were brought together by Mike Murphy, a former CEO of NLOP who went on to join Cafrino as chief executive.
Founded in 2006, NLOP has, like Cafrino, a free-to-play business model and pays players cash prizes, which are funded from advertising revenue. In addition, NLOP offers a subscription model and downloadable applications.
“It’s a fantastic addition to what we’ve been doing with Cafrino,” said Murphy in a statement this week.
“The acquisition of such a quality product, with over 1.3 million users, makes this an amazing deal. When originally running NLOP from 2013-2014, we had big plans. I’m excited to get the chance to pick up where we left off.”
The acquisition means Cafrino, with bases in New York and California, has dramatically increased its daily and monthly active users. Since its launch in 2006, NLOP.com has undergone consistent and ongoing development. The current plan is to run Cafrino.com and NLOP.com separately, introducing innovation to both products in due course.
Cafrino Chairman Haig Kayserian said that the NLOP acquisition would help accelerate growth.
Stan Hunting, Murphy’s successor at NLOP, will remain with the company, assuming the executive role of vice president advertising operations at Cafrino.
Murphy commented: “Stan and I worked closely at NLOP, and he brings valuable expertise in ad operations, which will greatly benefit the Cafrino team.”