Ongame Network is currently the 6th biggest overall actor in the online poker market and 2nd among the networks, incorporating rooms like Betfair, Betsson and RedKings. Even though they have been in a somewhat weaker position lately than they were a year ago, given that their parent company bwin has merged with PartyPoker and announced they would sell Ongame, network chief Martin Lerby is optimistic about the future of the company.
In a recent interview, Lerby talked about his network and the current state of online poker in general to InsidePokerBusiness. You can read the full interview here.
InsidePoker Business What impact has the US shutdown had on the European poker market?
Martin Lerby It's had very little impact, although we have seen a small positive effect on our numbers that we think is due to Black Friday. What is interesting is to see how differently the two companies have acted. PokerStars has come out on the right side, honouring their players and acting in the best interests of the industry and Full Tilt has done the opposite it seems.
IPB What is the direct impact of Black Friday on your business?
ML There are two things this means to us. When an operator is choosing their provider, they will look to go for one who is whiter than white and on the right side of the law. Eventually we will see a bit of a clean-up of the poker industry, with fewer sites and more players coming to us.
IPB Where does it leave the likes of networks still open to the US?
ML It's just a matter of time before they are forced to close down. I don't see it's a tenable business to remain open in the US. It's a big risk if you get caught.
IPB What's your feeling about the effectiveness of jurisdictions such as Alderney in the fallout of Black Friday?
ML I think jurisdictions such as Malta, Gibraltar and Alderney will be stricter and more cautious going forward. What we would like to see from the people dealing with regulation in various jurisdictions is that they try to understand the business and not make so many mistakes when they introduce licensing regimes.
IPB Do you think it will impact regulation in the larger regulated markets such as France?
ML If you look at France they are thinking of changing the legislation as it's not working and operators are still taking players on the dot com networks. So I think we will see a change in France at some stage.
IPB How significant will the effect of the departure of bwin to PartyPoker have on the Ongame Network? People say it comprises as much as 60% of the liquidity on the network.
ML Ongame is not dependent on bwin liquidity and the bwin size has been highly exaggerated in the media. On the dot com side I am not worried at all. We signed a deal with Sportingbet that will allow us to bridge some of the missing liquidity that will go out. We have some really strong deals in the pipeline, and we are still big enough to have good action and tournament guarantees. The partners in the network will see that clearly. It's obviously a bigger challenge in the local markets where bwin is a bigger part of the networks. But we are still positive and hope we will have growing networks in those countries too. We are working intensively in sales there and have a good pipeline of new operators there. It looks promising.
IPB What is the structure of the deal with Sportingbet and how significant is this for the network?
ML They are going to run a dual network. They will stay with Boss at least for a little while, but I don't know what their long term intentions are. We think Sportingbet is a big player even though their poker business has not been a key focus. We think with our help and our technology they can take a leap forward with poker and put more emphasis on their marketing. We have high hopes they will be a good contributor to the network.
IPB Will the growth in new business for Ongame come mostly from sportsbooks?
ML Yes. We know how sportsbooks work, we understand their needs and we understand the ecology of a sportsbook. They attract the right kinds of players, and it's important they have a brand that attracts contributing players. This is vital for any poker site, as if you don't get new cash into the system it will get drained. Ongame is one of the softer networks, and that is why some players like us. We are tougher on rakeback, but we value those partners who bring in the right kind of customers. With Essence we have increased the amount of net depositing players, and along with a number of other tools we've developed we can give the large sportsbooks what they need. And we know they will survive and be good for long-term business.
IPB Has there been underinvestment in Europe by the sportsbook brands?
ML There has definitely been a lack of investment and also what needs to happen is poker needs to be made more entertaining. Online poker needs to do more things that can't be done in offline poker. We are investing a lot into that and trying to find new features that will be more interesting to players. We are trying to reinvigorate poker because at the moment it's flat and we are seeing better growth in casino and sportsbook. The larger companies need to realise that they need to invest more and make it more entertaining and try to do something new with poker.
IPB Do you think the online poker market has stagnated in terms of growth?
ML It's at a point in its life cycle where it's stagnated, but I don't think it has reached its full potential yet and there is a lot that still can be done with poker. There are new groups of users that can still be attracted to poker. We have seen for the last 18 months that it has flattened out and we need to do something about it.
IPB What can be done to make poker more attractive to new players?
ML We need to make it faster, more entertaining and introduce new concepts into the game. It's not so much fun to spend four or five hours playing a tournament unless you are a pro player. You need to focus on making it more fun for the casual player and make it more fun for them, because they are the ones who bring the cash to the table.
Source: InsidePokerBusiness
In a recent interview, Lerby talked about his network and the current state of online poker in general to InsidePokerBusiness. You can read the full interview here.
Martin Lerby
InsidePoker Business What impact has the US shutdown had on the European poker market?
Martin Lerby It's had very little impact, although we have seen a small positive effect on our numbers that we think is due to Black Friday. What is interesting is to see how differently the two companies have acted. PokerStars has come out on the right side, honouring their players and acting in the best interests of the industry and Full Tilt has done the opposite it seems.
IPB What is the direct impact of Black Friday on your business?
ML There are two things this means to us. When an operator is choosing their provider, they will look to go for one who is whiter than white and on the right side of the law. Eventually we will see a bit of a clean-up of the poker industry, with fewer sites and more players coming to us.
IPB Where does it leave the likes of networks still open to the US?
ML It's just a matter of time before they are forced to close down. I don't see it's a tenable business to remain open in the US. It's a big risk if you get caught.
IPB What's your feeling about the effectiveness of jurisdictions such as Alderney in the fallout of Black Friday?
ML I think jurisdictions such as Malta, Gibraltar and Alderney will be stricter and more cautious going forward. What we would like to see from the people dealing with regulation in various jurisdictions is that they try to understand the business and not make so many mistakes when they introduce licensing regimes.
IPB Do you think it will impact regulation in the larger regulated markets such as France?
ML If you look at France they are thinking of changing the legislation as it's not working and operators are still taking players on the dot com networks. So I think we will see a change in France at some stage.
IPB How significant will the effect of the departure of bwin to PartyPoker have on the Ongame Network? People say it comprises as much as 60% of the liquidity on the network.
ML Ongame is not dependent on bwin liquidity and the bwin size has been highly exaggerated in the media. On the dot com side I am not worried at all. We signed a deal with Sportingbet that will allow us to bridge some of the missing liquidity that will go out. We have some really strong deals in the pipeline, and we are still big enough to have good action and tournament guarantees. The partners in the network will see that clearly. It's obviously a bigger challenge in the local markets where bwin is a bigger part of the networks. But we are still positive and hope we will have growing networks in those countries too. We are working intensively in sales there and have a good pipeline of new operators there. It looks promising.
IPB What is the structure of the deal with Sportingbet and how significant is this for the network?
ML They are going to run a dual network. They will stay with Boss at least for a little while, but I don't know what their long term intentions are. We think Sportingbet is a big player even though their poker business has not been a key focus. We think with our help and our technology they can take a leap forward with poker and put more emphasis on their marketing. We have high hopes they will be a good contributor to the network.
IPB Will the growth in new business for Ongame come mostly from sportsbooks?
ML Yes. We know how sportsbooks work, we understand their needs and we understand the ecology of a sportsbook. They attract the right kinds of players, and it's important they have a brand that attracts contributing players. This is vital for any poker site, as if you don't get new cash into the system it will get drained. Ongame is one of the softer networks, and that is why some players like us. We are tougher on rakeback, but we value those partners who bring in the right kind of customers. With Essence we have increased the amount of net depositing players, and along with a number of other tools we've developed we can give the large sportsbooks what they need. And we know they will survive and be good for long-term business.
IPB Has there been underinvestment in Europe by the sportsbook brands?
ML There has definitely been a lack of investment and also what needs to happen is poker needs to be made more entertaining. Online poker needs to do more things that can't be done in offline poker. We are investing a lot into that and trying to find new features that will be more interesting to players. We are trying to reinvigorate poker because at the moment it's flat and we are seeing better growth in casino and sportsbook. The larger companies need to realise that they need to invest more and make it more entertaining and try to do something new with poker.
IPB Do you think the online poker market has stagnated in terms of growth?
ML It's at a point in its life cycle where it's stagnated, but I don't think it has reached its full potential yet and there is a lot that still can be done with poker. There are new groups of users that can still be attracted to poker. We have seen for the last 18 months that it has flattened out and we need to do something about it.
IPB What can be done to make poker more attractive to new players?
ML We need to make it faster, more entertaining and introduce new concepts into the game. It's not so much fun to spend four or five hours playing a tournament unless you are a pro player. You need to focus on making it more fun for the casual player and make it more fun for them, because they are the ones who bring the cash to the table.
Source: InsidePokerBusiness
