Interactive BALKAN’S POKER
rolls. Highly skill players with higher bank-rolls are the focus of course, and our network will offer them entertainment through gaming with equally skilled players. A special focus for network and Balkan Texas are live events and poker tours, which already have an international character where the best players from the network, via satellites and leagues points, can get a chance to participate and win luxurious prizes.
You’re setting up a dedicated team to manage and run the day to day operations of the network – what specific skills are you looking for and is there a ready pool of talent to cater to this market?
KZ - The team comes from various backgrounds and businesses ranging from the IT industry, retailing, financial services, marketing and media, all with experience in the poker industry. A net- work approach offers centralisation of operations, so our partners can focus on attracting players while dedicated teams are servicing day-to-day operations. When we are looking for new team members the focus is on education and relevant experience, knowledge of the poker industry and of course a hard-working attitude.
Poker in Eastern Europe is still not the mainstream
entertainment as it is in western countries, especially USA etc.,
and budgets spent on this kind of entertainment are certainly less than in the west.
operations side to join the network? Who are the ideal candidates to become part of the network and what’s in it for them?
KZ - Our network partners will benefit from a multi-party player pool and outstanding software platforms, which can be swiftly rolled out to mar- ket and tailored to specific tastes of the unique regions of Eastern Europe. Our network and serv- ices/products are made-to-order to a range of potential candidates ranging from already estab- lished pokers sites to start-up businesses, so the scope of ideal candidates is quite broad. What we are looking for from the candidates is proof of good will, soundness of current operations and fulfilled legal prerequisites.
What’s the market for online poker in Eastern Europe right now? Is there a lot of competition?
KZ - The Eastern Europe market currently is still fragmented and isolated with small sites focusing on specific countries/regions. Looking into the population of these countries and number of sites
we can say that market is saturated, but then again all of these sites are struggling with liquidi- ty issues, so our network approach might actually benefit from these conditions. Our goal is to bring those fragmented markets and interested sites under one umbrella where all participants will share a common goal and prosper from joint col- laboration.
What changes have you made to tailor the net- work towards a specifically eastern European poker player? What are the characteristics that you’ve identified and how do you appeal to that audience?
KZ - Poker in Eastern Europe is still not the main- stream entertainment that it is in west countries, especially the US etc., also budgets spent on this kind of entertainment are less than in the west too. Our focus is to promote poker as fun, to attract new players via excellent promotional activities and fun tournaments, to align stakes with player’s budgets and protect them from sharks, thus enabling them to build up their bank-
What are the major challenges that you face? Are there fewer regulatory hurdles to overcome in Eastern Europe – though having said that, work- ing with unregulated or poorly regulated markets poses just as many issues…
KZ - The major challenge for any poker site is liq- uidity and via our network approach we are tar- geting this issue while providing more fun for our players. Addressing the regulatory topic, it is pos- sible to say that to some extent that Eastern Europe is somewhat less strict when it comes to the online poker industry, but at the same time licensing, transparent business operations and general standards of international financial oper- ations such as KYC and AML regulations and pro- cedures is a must-have. All our partners and net- work participants are operating in this manner, while centralised office behave as regulatory and controlling points for the whole network.
What is the ultimate goal that you have set your- selves, both from Connective’s point of view and that of Balkan Texas?
KZ - Our vision is to offer exceptional entertain- ment for our players and to be the largest and best poker network operating in Eastern Europe.
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