Online Poker: Gambling911.com Predicts Virgin Poker to Become Major Player
If online poker site Virgin Poker's premiere launch on the Gambling911.com website is any indication of how successful this new venture from the Virgin Group will become, we might be in for an incredible ride.
"The results over a three day period on the Gambling911.com website have been staggering," disclosed Payton O'Brien of G911. "Brand identification is key here and combined with our massive web traffic we truly believe Virgin Poker is going to gain a significant market share in the online poker industry."
This despite the fact that Virgin Poker (see website here) does not accept poker players from the US at this time.
"There are obviously enough poker players outside the US to sustain this and other competing poker room brands since people are signing up with Virgin Poker through Gambling911.com by the boat loads."
Nearly 50% of Gambling911.com's traffic comes from outside the United States.
What works for Virgin may not work for other websites though, Ms. O'Brien stresses.
"The online gambling industry is in a transition period and poker players want to know that they are with a company they can trust. Obviously Virgin fits the bill."
Gambling911.com has successfully predicted the future success of upstart brands in the past. Case in point, Bodog.com.
"We were laughed off the web the first year of Bodog.com's existence when Gambling911 helped to fuel the Bodog Revolution," O'Brien says. "Now look at how big that brand has become."
Bodog.com Founder Calvin Ayre in fact has gone on record as saying he considers Virgin founder Richard Branson among his biggest influences.
O'Brien adds in her feisty tongue:
"Sites like 888.com, Titan and Paradise have essentially lost focus after departing the US market with their respective tails between their legs even though PartyPoker has managed to hold its own. Virgin Poker will easily be able to break into the European and Canadian markets in no time."
Flying High
Christopher Costigan, founder of Gambling911.com has followed the Virgin Group for the past 15 years.
"I worked in the airline industry and Virgin Atlantic was the pillar of fine service and class in an otherwise cut throat environment."
On June 22, 1984 Virgin Atlantic operated its inaugural scheduled air service between London Gatwick Airport and Newark using a single, leased Boeing 747-200, G-VIRG, formerly operated by Aerolineas Argentinas. The airline became profitable during its first year of operation, aided by sister company Virgin Records' ability to finance the lease of a relatively inexpensive, second-hand Boeing 747. The firm also timed the start of operations to take advantage of a full summer's season, which included the June to September peak season - by far the most profitable travel period of the year.
"Because the online gambling industry is such a cash cow, Virgin's gaming brand could help generate some serious revenues for the company," Costigan claims. "Online gambling is a billion dollar industry and companies like Virgin and Playboy wouldn't be getting involved if they thought otherwise."
Virgin Less Likely to Experience Turbulence
Already, some of the major casino companies in Las Vegas are poised to go online. The Vegas casino industry is among the last of the major industries to truly capitalize on the internet revolution.
But things won't be easy for the Vegas big boys. In a shocking surprise development, two politicians - Jon Kyl, Republican Senator of Arizona and Bill Frist, Senate Leader - quietly tacked on a measure to a vital port security act curbing most forms of internet gambling in the US. Congressmen and Congresswomen had no other choice but to vote the security measure into law while voicing outrage over the attached unrelated internet gambling measure. Most vocal were those representatives from Nevada. Jon Kyl walked away with a giant grin on his face, having accomplished his own self-agenda, ensuring that horse racing and his own state lottery be exempt from the new law.
MGM and the gang will be forced to compete against Virgin, Ladbrokes and William Hill (not to mention PartyPoker) in the hostile European market, a market they know little about. MGM once tried going online in Europe with an internet casino brand and failed. For Playboy, this will also mark its second attempt at trying to break into the Euro market.
According to Costigan, Virgin is not likely to have the same difficulties as an MGM or Playboy.
"They (Virgin) understand the European market and how to promote there. MGM is a massive brand but its strength is the US market. We can only hope that MGM and other big name brick and mortar casino companies are lobbying heavily to have online poker exempt from recent legislation since they still have several months to finalize the language in that law. Otherwise, Vegas has pretty much missed the boat on this one.
"It's bad enough they are already going to realize millions of dollars in lost revenue when the World Series of Poker rolls into town this coming July with absolutely zero income derived from the internet poker rooms that helped make pump millions of extra dollars into the local economy there over the past two years."
Many experts believe that US poker players will lose interest in playing poker online since the Justice Department and a handful of political zealots have made it so difficult to join these online poker rooms.
"At the current rate it may take years for Vegas casinos to instill confidence in US poker players if and when they ever manage to get online themselves," Costigan said. "Las Vegas realized a few years back that the internet casinos and poker rooms helped entice gamblers to experience the real deal. With the US government forcing a message down our throats that gambling from one's home is bad, the masses are bound to be turned off by the activity altogether. The message that Americans are receiving is that "gambling is bad". The American people do not distinguish online gambling from other forms of gambling. And what Vegas failed to realize early on in the game is that the folks who win playing poker online often use that money to plan their trips to Vegas."
------
Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
Originally published February 6, 2007 11:49 pm ET
