The Easter Bunny is only a few months away from making an appearance, but there is another iconic rabbit ready to rebuy and reenter the online poker community. The Playboy bunny, the globally identifiable symbol of the massive Playboy empire created by Hugh Hefner, will be seen hopping around the World Wide Web on virtual poker portals. The new owners which purchased the Ongame Network, the Amaya Gaming Group Inc., just recently announced that they had reached a worldwide licensing deal with Playboy Enterprises. The two companies have formed a partnership which will focus on offering online poker, as well as online lotteries, hoping to cash in on the world-renowned Playboy brand.

The first sites to show up with the iconic rabbit will launch in 2013, and Scott Flanders, the CEO of Playboy, stated that it is his belief the Playboy brand and online poker aficionados are “a natural fit.” He went on to point out that the “Playboy lifestyle” is all about individuals indulging their passions. There are certainly no more passionate online gamers than online poker players, and Flanders also said that his company will work in tandem with Amaya, focusing on delivering the Playboy experience to consumers around the globe that understand and appreciate quality content as part of the Playboy experience.

This is not Playboy’s first foray into online gaming, as they had previously offered interactive gaming in their partnership with the Cryptologic Network. That deal ended in 2009 however, and the timing of that partnership dissolution as well as the introduction of the UIGEA led Playboy to develop an apprehensive attitude towards rushing back into the online gambling arena. Cryptologic dissolved their US network and moved their players to Boss Media. Ever since, Playboy has been looking for a responsible and mutually profitable way to reenter the online poker community with a partner that reflected their vision and brand.

Not simply a return to online poker, this is also a return for Playboy to Cryptologic in a sense. That company totally changed strategies and began specializing as a supplier of casino gaming. In April of this year Cryptologic was bought out by none other than Amaya, and Flanders said that his company’s decision to partner up with Amaya was strongly influenced by their positive feelings about their previous partnership and experience with Cryptologic. Amaya has been very busy as of late in the online poker arena, and their aggressive strategy to become a major player at the forefront of the new US online poker industry no doubt had a positive impact on Playboy’s decision.

The company recently entered a strategic partnership with B&M Casino’s Mohegan Sun, agreed to a distribution agreement with Nevada interactive gaming license holder Shuffle Master, and just finished up a deal with the Betfair Group that includes software licensing. Coupled with their recent purchase of Ongame, it is clear that Amaya is very serious about online gaming in general and online poker in particular. Amaya CEO David Baazov was very enthusiastic when interviewed recently about the new partnership, and said he is very optimistic about the relationship with Playboy. He alluded to the brand’s enthusiastic online audience and social media user engagements, stating that he was confident that the Playboy partnership will prove successful for both parties in their online endeavors. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner returned the company to private ownership in 2011, naming himself Chief Creative Officer.