EVENBET GAMING
Poker’s new place
Dmitry Starostenkov, EvenBet Gaming CEO, on why poker needs to adapt if it is to find its place and thrive in gaming’s new ecosystem.
P W
oker is no longer front of mind in the online gaming industry, in stark contrast to the mid-noughties when it was the primary driver of growth for many of the world’s biggest operators. It
has suffered a number of major setbacks, not least a ban in its biggest market, the United States. However, we are gradually beginning to see a
renaissance, and while it may not return to the glory days, many operators are quickly learning that once it has found its spot, poker has a vital role to play in a wider gaming offering.
Engaging players
hile some have undoubtedly written poker off as yesterday’s news, it offers a unique solution to modern igaming’s
biggest challenge: keeping players engaged. Sportsbook and casino operators have struggled for years to find creative ways to keep players eyeballs on their products. However, despite countless product innovations, both sports betting and casino remain broadly
transactional offerings. They cannot engage the player in the manner other entertainment industry giants, such as Netflix or Facebook, do. Poker has a unique advantage in this regard, offering a blend of skill and luck within a time-test format that has the power to demand a player’s undivided attention for hours. This opens up a range of opportunities for
operators. Primarily, there is significant cross-sell potential, particularly to casino. We have enjoyed success integrating casino side games within the poker client, so that players can have a spin or two while waiting for the action to reach them. There is also the question of retention. It is
now easier than ever to integrate a poker offering into an existing sportsbook or casino. EvenBet signed a deal of precisely this nature recently with operator 1XBet. The upside here is that when an existing casino or sportsbook players fancies a game of poker, they will remain on your site instead of leaving for a rival. Those rival operators more often than not also have a sophisticated cross-selling function in place to convert poker players to casino or sportsbook, so losing them to poker might see you lose them for good. Once you have the cross-sell function in place,
poker also remains a far cheaper acquisition tool than casino or sportsbook – another major bonus in an age of ever rising CPAs.
Regulatory turnaround R 52 DECEMBER 2017
egulators are also beginning to provide the oxygen poker requires to breath, and as a result we are seeing some encouraging
growth for the vertical, particularly in France. During Q2 2017, French regulator ARJEL reported 3% year-on-year revenue growth to €57 million on the strength of growing tournament revenues.
This summer, regulators in France, Italy, Spain
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66
