Joined: Apr '14
Location: Malaysia
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 26
888 is moving its focus from poker to online slots in response to market weakness.
888 Holdings plc CEO Brian Mattingley has said that the company is “absolutely shocked by the slowness of the market” in New Jersey.
In a telephone interview with a Bloomberg reporter, he explained that the company was going to shift its focus from poker to online slots in the state regulated market.
He indicated that the marketing in New Jersey hadn’t worked.
“We’ve got to think again, the way we market,” he said, referring to all New Jersey operators.
As part of a joint venture with Avenue Capital Group, 888 runs the All American Poker Network, and operates the only online poker skin on the network. It is the third largest network in New Jersey, behind partypoker/Borgata and WSOP.
Market Problems
Mattingley also laid blame for low growth on the lack of affiliate marketing, explaining that in Europe over 30% of players sign up through non-direct channels. In his assessment the continued competition from “gray” market operators had also been a factor.
In the same Bloomberg article, Tom Ballance, COO of the Borgata, said that he was going to cut back on marketing expenditure.
Balllance mentioned the rigorous sign up process mandated by the regulator, paucity of game availability on mobile devices and seasonal factors as other reasons for the market’s poor performance to date.
Ultimate Gaming chairman Tom Breitling also laments the slow start in the market, pointing to regulatory burdens, gray-market operators, and low consumer awareness in a series of video blogs that discuss both Nevada and New Jersey. However, Breitling did believe a “breakthrough” in the market could be “right around the corner.”
Collectively, New Jersey operators have lost over a third of their cash game traffic over the last six months, worse than all other online poker markets.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 57 (M)
Posts: 1703
Too bad the americans haven't recovered from the FT Fiasco yet.
They still feel the rules are not safe enough to allow them to put up real money back on poker sites.
The regulations go back and forward about Federal overall law to rule online poker gaming, making the people uncertain of the safety of their money when put on the any poker site, even if it is a Major one, like 888.
I play there and I have never had a problem, but that's just me, I can't speak for everyone else
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
Sad to hear that, i guess that even the market is officially regulated now and basically the risk of losing the money is minimum the players lost their confidence in online poker...
If you add on top of that the economic crisis it's just a sad story. Lets hope that in time they wii gain the players confidence!
