SEGA Announces It Will Make Sonic Poker Site

I’m sure somewhere there are a few people crippled by indecision over whether to play online poker or classic SEGA console games. If you’re one of them, I have positively smashing news. SEGA announced the company has secured an online gambling license and plans to open up an online casino, including online poker tournaments.

Obviously SEGA doesn’t have a rich history of gambling games so it’s pretty obvious they just want in on the booming online poker business. And this isn’t without precedence either; many creative properties have been co-opted into branded gambling sites. Marvel Comics characters have been worked into online slot games, for instance.

This move by SEGA is no different. You can expect to do a little online gambling alongside Sonic the Hedgehog (all his games have been terrible lately anyway, why not sink willfully into the abyss of poker mascots?) and characters from Virtua Fighter and House of the Dead.

These online games won’t be developed by SEGA; it sounds like the game maker will simply be using the characters with online gambling software from Playtech and include it all in the SEGAPass platform. That gets you access to SEGApoker.com and SEGAcasino.com with the single billing platform, meaning you can presumably hop back and forth if you find you’re not losing enough money on one site.

There is no word on when all the SEGA-related gambling will start, but the license has been issued and it comes from "The Alderney Gambling Control Commission [which] provides the most comprehensive gaming regulations with the strictest requirements and as such is recognized as the most reputable online gaming jurisdiction. This provides as excellent fit with Sega's regulatory compliant strategy and we are pleased to be approved by this leading authority,” according to a SEGAGames spokesman. Sounds like they’re taking it pretty seriously.

If you don’t want to wait for Sonic, you can start playing online poker right now. We’ve reviewed the best places to find a game of online poker, so check it out.

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