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S P O N S O R E D E D IIT O R IIA L
SPONSORED ED TOR AL
SLOTS
SOFTWARE FOCUS
Poker is back! Thinking
Aristocrat-
to the fact that quite a few of the recreational players lose a lot
of money on poker, we feel that it is not sustainable to continue
with poker as it is on a network, but hope to be able to turn this
around and make sure that the recreational players have a more
enjoyable experience. We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s
currently actually hurting business more than it’s benefiting it, so
we’re willing to make a bold move and go standalone. Hopefully we
can reverse the trend of poker growth.
outside the box
Unibet’s head of gaming Daniel Eskola
talks to eGaming Review about Unibet’s
new standalone software product
Sam Nickless of Aristocrat
s the next how one of the
explains step in developing its customer experience,
Unibet has
to
to a standalone poker
leadersin decided land-based is developed
of the2014. move software
product
early
The
slot world is and Maria its
exclusively for the Unibet taking brands by Estonian-based
supplier Relax Gaming. Unibet has been range
premium games to a closely involved in key
functionality and design to cater for its new poker strategy.
of new channels, including
eGaming Review catches up with Daniel Eskola to find out more.
the online market.
A
eGaming Review (eGR): What advantages will the new
standalone software product bring to Unibet?
Daniel Eskola (DE): The biggest advantage that we have with
our standalone product is that we’re finally able to properly follow
through on a recreational poker strategy. We’ve had similar
strategies in the past focusing on recreational players, but being
part of a network has been an issue as our players were facing
the players from other operators. By using a standalone software
product we are in control of our own destiny both when it comes
to the strategy and the product roadmap of where we want to
take poker as a whole.
eGR: Why is having standalone software more sustainable than
being part of a poker network?
DE: What we’ve seen in the last few years is that both our
recreational poker players as well as the casino and sports betting
players are getting a worse and worse customer experience when
they play online poker. Professional poker players with tracking
software target recreational players, leading to the latter player
base losing their money too fast. We have been having negative
growth in poker for the last few years while all the other products
are growing; poker is currently 4% of the Unibet business. Due
VICTOR CHANDLER
Sam Nickless is the Managing
Daniel Eskola is a 33-year-old
Director of Emerging Businesses
industry veteran with eight years of
& Strategy, responsible for
experience from both the B2B side
Aristocrat’s lotteries, online and
(Entraction) and the B2C side (Unibet