Over the last 12 months sports globally ground to a halt due to the ongoing pandemic, yet through all the negatives what opportunities has the virus presented for the world of poker?

What is it?

During the SBC Digital Summit CIS, the Poker Land Flush panel highlighted changes to the scene and more.

The session questions whether the pandemic presented a golden opportunity for the resurgence of the classic card game both online and live, what effect has the pandemic? What was the outlook before COVID? How did consumers react and what’s ahead for the legendary card game?

Who is it?

Dmitry Starostnikov, CEO, Evenbet Gaming

Arthur Voskanyan, CEO, Pokerclub Management

Vakhtang Mdivani, Head of Product Marketing, Adjarabet

Sergii Romanenko, COO, GGPokerok

Warren Lush, Shareholder, TG Lab 

What is being said?

Responding to how the consumers reacted to the pandemic itself and what he believes the future holds for poker Starostnikov stated: “I believe that poker is experiencing now the second rise because of emerging markets.

“I think even after the lockdown is finished this movement will continue and because of this poker is growing now in emerging markets and because of the influx of younger generations into poker.  

“For example comparing real money and social poker like Facebook poker ten years ago you can see a strict difference in features and how it looks between zynga and real money poker.

“Now since it is going to Asia, it is going to Latin America and the younger generation is now playing poker games. It’s transforming now… becoming more and more zynga like, it needs emojis, people need to throw items to each other, people need to share video, voice messages and so on. 

“For example 10 years ago we developed video avatars… we thought that would be a very interesting feature. We didn’t get any demand from the industry for this feature because no one was interested in these video avatars.

“Now 10 years after we have developed this feature again because we are getting a lot of requests from customers that they need again to have avatars because newer generations of TikTok and Instagram need this.

“I think innovation in poker will be focused on socialising, making it more mass multiplayer games with achievements, presents, social interactions.”

Why should I watch it?

A look at the opportunity presented to the renowned card game during the pandemic and how it has developed from experts in the field. 

Where can I see more?
Source: SBC YouTube Channel