INSIGHT
time and in August released a game called
Spin & Go Max, which, as with 888’s
Blast, offers tournament players the
chance to win a jackpot of up to 10,000
times the buy-in.
In Stars’ Q2 earnings call, CEO Rafi
Ashkenazi said: “We are also investing
in R&D to create new games within and
beyond the traditional poker model, we
are excited about our product pipeline,
which includes innovative variants to the
current poker formats such as Spin & Go
Omaha, Spin & Go Max, and Zoom Bolt,
an addition featuring Usain Bolt.
“We are also optimistic about Power Up,
which recently completed alpha testing
and has been generating positive buzz
among existing players and trade media
who recognise it as a thoroughly modern
advancement of traditional poker that
incorporates elements from strategy
games that have exploded in popularity
in recent years.”
Some, however, are not yet fully
convinced the traditional game of poker
needs to change. Unibet’s head of poker
David Pomroy says: “This is something
we’re currently taking a watching brief on.
“Our starting point is that we don’t
believe the fundamental game of poker
needs to be made more interesting but there
will always be room for new game types.
“Operators can make the online poker
experience more satisfying and pleasing
without increasing the variance for players,
they just have to be creative.”
For Unibet, it was the move from a
network model to its own platform a
couple of years ago that reinvigorated its
poker vertical – Kindred’s full-year results
for 2016 showed poker revenues reached
£12.5m last year, a huge 65% jump on the
previous year.
With revenues at £7.6m at the halfway
point this year, the upward trend looks set
to continue.
Pomroy explains: “The main benefit
for Unibet has come from being able to
have complete say over promotions, how
loyalty budget is spent and how we try to
attract players.
60
iGB Affiliate Issue 65 OCT/NOV 2017
“We’re now more focused on
attracting and rewarding casual and
losing players and know that we can
make that profitable.
“Under a network model that’s a lot
harder to do as nobody wants to be the
brand spending high on marketing to
bring in new players while other operators
maximise their revenue.”
this was the rationale for Flopomania,
says Shakked.
“The good players know how to play
the pre-flop and pretty much eliminate all
the other players from the table, leaving
just one player.
So in Flopomania all the players get
to see the flop so it completely changes
the dynamics of the game because now
“The good players know how to play the pre-flop and pretty
much eliminate all the other players from the table, leaving
just one player. In Flopomania all the players get to see the
flop so it completely changes the dynamics of the game”
Hili Shakked, 888
Still about the skill?
When asked if the balance between the
skill-based and recreational elements of
poker is shifting, he raises an interesting
parallel with esports. “It’s shifting in the
sense that it opens the game up to a new
type of player and that can only be a
good thing.
“Poker is a timeless game for a reason
though and the skill-based element will
always draw a huge crowd, particularly
nowadays at a time when esports is really
taking off.”
Perhaps Pomroy has a point – after
all there are plenty of pure luck games
available and it’s the skill-based element of
poker that has traditionally set it apart from
RNG offerings.
But there’s no doubt that poker
operators have struggled to keep both
the sharks and the fish of poker happy,
and although across the board operators
do seem to have taken big steps towards
de-incentivising professional players in
recent years — Stars’ revamp of its
reward system in July is a good example —
it hasn’t been enough to return poker to
its glory days.
Although changing the promotion
and bonusing structure has also been
part of the strategy at 888, it decided it
needed to go further in levelling the playing
field between pros and casual players and
even if your hole cards are not good,
sometimes the flop can completely
change your luck
or your chances to win the hand.”
At GVC-owned PartyPoker, head of
poker Tom Waters says, however, that
they take a different approach to attracting
recreational players.
“We have a strong focus on a health
ecology — random seating, anonymous
hand histories, for example — and
are working hard to abolish the seating
scripts and BOTs that have been a thorn
in the side of online poker sites for a
long time now.”
Waters says PartyPoker is focusing
on its core elements rather than new
variants of poker. “Our growth forecasts
come from existing game types and we
are looking to grow our player base using
these games rather than shift our focus
to the more casual jackpot/lottery style
games that require less skill.”
Opinion is somewhat divided on
whether or not tinkering with the core
game of poker is really the key to bringing
back the much-coveted recreational
players into the game.
But with revenues creeping back up for
many of the operators focusing on the
vertical even before the European liquidity
pooling comes into play, things
are definitely looking up for poker.