Fester’s Findings – August 2015

So another month passes by, more tables open at Evolution, more casinos merge, more observations and promotions.

 

Silver tables rolled out

No not tables actually made of silver, rather that’s the name of the latest tables at Evolution’s Riga studio.

So far consisting of 2 generic (general access, open to all casinos) blackjack tables. Pitched at mid-bet range players with a lower minimum bet than the grey Platinum and recent Fortune VIP blackjack tables.

The new tables come with a silver backdrop wall and a complementary table surface.

Visually the tables look much nicer than some dedicated casino areas … worthy contenders for a new forum poll, best looking general access tables.

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Genting sign on the Evolution dotted line

News broke towards the end of the month that Genting Casino would soon be switching to using the Evolution platform. Previously having being long-term Playtech clients.

According to the press release

Evolution Gaming, leading provider of Live Casino solutions, has entered into an exclusive agreement with Genting Alderney, the online casino division of Genting Group.

It was also announced that Genting will join the ever growing number of casinos who have a private dedicated area in the Riga studio.

Genting may not have the biggest online casino presence but the Malaysian based outfit are a familiar enough brand in the UK with bricks-and-mortar casinos in many cities. Now seemingly with aspirations of increasing their European online presence and brand individuality.

Evolution no doubt will be chuffed to have bucked the trend of the last couple of years when notable casinos such as Paddy Power, Sky, and Ladbrokes switched to Playtech. Although the Ladbrokes switch was a given following the Playtech partnership deal and share acquisition.

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Lets get chatty, part deux

In last month’s blog I wrote how Evolution dealers were now actively trying to engage players in general conversation.

It’s worth noting for the sake of balance how chat rules have changed for Playtech dealers.

I always found it curious how Playtech dealers were taught to be so friendly and required to:

initiate and maintain small-talks with the purpose of maintaining a friendly, live environment on the casino game floor.

But how as a player you could so rapidly be brought back down to earth with a ‘slap in the face’ when you encountered one of the many dealer chat rules that existed at Playtech. For example dealers not being allowed to mention the colours red, black or green in any conversation about books, video games, films, or whatever else at roulette so as not to be seen to having any influence on betting and results.

Once you’ve experienced a few Playtech rules it makes you question just how much manipulation of dealers there is at the studio and what can be taken as genuine.

Well the good news is the studio bosses finally came to their senses and they’ve relaxed some of the chat rules for dealers. Obvious changes players may have noticed include dealers now being allowed to mention brand names and some numbers on roulette.

I’ve even not got rebuked recently for trying to chat to the dealer in Latvian … has the whole world turned upside down?

Simple changes like these all help to diminish those feelings in the back of your mind that it’s all a managed performance.

Talking of performances, as a bonus treat for taking the time to read this month blog here’s another of those behind the scenes, day in a dealers life videos espousing how great it is there.

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Most distracting tables

If poker is your game then you may have noticed that PokerStars have renamed their private hold’em table to EPT (European Poker Tour) Barcelona Hold’em.

Rather more in-your-face is the intrusion of a poker tournament with commentary superimposed over the table.

It seems to be a mini trend at Evolution who can devise the most distracting table, or depending on your viewpoint, the most impolite or most annoying table.

First there was the chaotic musical Blackjack Party table where the dealer and presenter can spend the majority of the time talking between themselves.

Then William Hill basically copied this approach for the Vegas area with dealers encouraged to have cross table conversations. Which boils down to your dealer being interrupted mid game/conversation by the other Vegas dealers, or even turning their backs on players to talk to the dealer on the roulette table. It’s rude to players at the table, no matter how they try to justify and defend it.

The Vegas tables now also come with a rolling video backdrop screen promoting their RNG games, and not forgetting the slot machine background noise for added distraction.

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Paddy Power and Betfair engagement

More end of the month breaking news came in the shape of the proposed Paddy Power & Betfair merger.

This coming in the wake of several other recent high profile ‘marriages’ such as 888’s acquisition of Bwin.Party, and the Ladbrokes, Gala Coral merger.

LD cheekily asked in the forum:

“Who’s next?
William Hill (who missed out on 888) + bet365 (yet to enter the fray)”

That’s not yet on my radar.

Interestingly the recent big ‘marriages’ have been between casinos using the same live dealer platforms. I’ve advocated before bet365 should consider switching its European live dealer games to the Evolution platform with all the extra it has to offer including numerous language tables. Maybe a merger with William Hill would finally give bet365 the push it needs :).

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Summer Hot Wheels draws to an end

The month long daily Summer Hot Wheels prize draws at Evolution came to a climax with player stumarley9 winning the grand prix draw. Over 2 million players had qualified for the draw.

Players often seem unaware of running promotions, especially those with automatic entry. Which really defeats the fundamental purpose of promotions to encourage player participation.

Wonder if stumarley9 knew he was in the draw before a brand new Mini car arrived in the post 😉

Congratulations to all winners.

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