SEGA Cashes in its Chips

Gaming giant SEGA has called time on its Alderney based gambling websites after less that a year in operation. Online casinos operating under the SEGAcasino.com and SEGApoker banners have told their members to withdraw their funds immediately and have prevented new registrations, as the company will be shutting up shop. 

Hopeful players logging onto the sites were greeted with the on screen message “we are no longer accepting registrations/deposits from your jurisdiction.” SEGA Games Ltd stated that any uncleared funds would automatically be returned to customers registered bank accounts from mid-September 2010 onwards. 

Last October SEGA Games Ltd was granted a licence on the Channel Island and went about establishing 125 online gaming sites, which were developed by CTXM and Playtech. These ranged from traditional casino games, poker and blackjack, along with numerous video slot machines. SEGA also went on to develop a series of games that were based around popular brand names such as Virtua Fighter, House of the Dead and Phantasy Star. 

It is thought that the over hyped launch and the company’s normal demographic of young gamers did not attract sufficient adult gamblers to make the venture worthwhile. They seem to have had problems establishing themselves as a realistic concern and this led to difficulties keeping afloat. The SEGA and Playtech names were not sufficient for the casinos to get any member traction, as the company had an unproven gambling record. 

Even their trademark character Sonic the Hedgehog couldn’t spin his way out of this one.