Online poker: no sure winners
Those that forget their history will only have to live through it again, says Bodog Poker Network boss Patrik Selin - and while the history of online gambling is a very short one, the one thing you can be sure of is uncertainty. That goes double for the market leaders.
THOSE that forget their history will only have to live through it again, and while the history of online gambling is a very short one, the one thing you can be sure of is uncertainty. That goes double for the market leaders.
If we take a minute’s trip down memory lane for the online poker industry, the point is well proven:
– 1998: Planet Poker had 100% market share
– 2000: Paradise Poker had more than 80% market share
– 2005 PartyPoker had over 50% market share
And now:
– Planet Poker is for play money only
– Paradise is just part of Boss Network, with a total 2.5% market share
– PartyPoker have around 6.5% market share
How times have changed. So who is winning now? According to PokerScout, the top five sites for cash game players are:
1) PokerStars, which has around 40% market share
2) Full Tilt, which has around 20%
3) PartyPoker, around 6.5% marketshare
4) iPoker, around 5.9%, and”¦
5) Bwin, which has around 3.5%.
So what does all this mean for the future?
The shifts in the poker market and other parts of the industry have mainly been driven by three factors.
The first of these is technology. Planet Poker lost to Paradise mainly due to technology ““ for example its site was down several days in a row due to a technical problem at very same time as Paradise launched.
The second factor is marketing. PartyPoker was simply more aggressive and had better marketing than other poker companies, and won according rewards.
The other factor is legal change. Obviously UIEGA made the listed companies withdraw from the US, but the legal changes are far from over, and while many companies operating only in Europe see themselves as ‘legal’, this is simply untrue.
With such an uncertain landscape and history why, therefore, do we assume the winners of today will be the same in a few years?
Full Tilt is successful with Rush Poker and is using technology as a driver to win tomorrow’s battles. New entrants like Sega and Harrah’s are trying to use marketing skills and brand strengths to become the winners in the future. And companies like Mangas using the change in the legal landscape to become tomorrow’s winners.
Who will be leading the race in the future I can’t predict, but what I can say is that complacency is your worst enemy in this industry. And those of us who are new, flexible, hungry and well-funded are coming to take advantage.