Fester’s Findings – January 2015

 

The new year started more like a whimper than with a big bang. Below are a collection of smaller items posted in the forum, and some that didn’t even make the forum for the month of January.

 

Ladbrokes moving to new markets

The most activity this month seemed to be happening at Ladbrokes. Although you need to be living in a country affected by Ladbrokes’ latest manoeuvrings to have an impact on your gaming.

Last year Ladbrokes withdrew from several countries including Canada, Norway, Switzerland and Hungary. More countries went the same way at the start of January, when Ladbrokes announced they were also adding Russia, Portugal, Finland, and Romania to their list of restricted territories. At the last count that now equates to 68 separate jurisdictions.

The latest countries added were a result of changes in European and UK online gambling legislation.

In order to qualify for a UK licence an operator must not offer it services in any region where online gambling is forbidden, and in addition, no more than 3% of its revenue should come from those regions considered as ‘grey areas’.

Ladbrokes weren’t the first operator to withdraw from Russia, and most likely they wont be the last as new gambling laws keep coming thick and fast in Russia.

Online operators are facing a significant loss of revenue if the permitted percentage of grey areas is further reduced as some people are pushing for. Notable populous countries classed as grey areas include China, India and Brazil.

Ladbrokes then announced, that in a joint venture with Spanish operator Cirsa they were entering into the Mexican market. Damian Cope, Managing Director Ladbrokes International, commentating on the launch of casinolife.com said it was:

“.. an opportunity to diversify away from the UK market.

.. the strength of Cirsa’s extensive offline presence across Latin America now allows the joint venture to expand in that region. This digital entry into Mexico is very much a first step in our plans not the culmination.”

LD posted more Ladbrokes news following a communication that German customers could now use PayPal.

---

Betsson closes to UK players

Also as a consequence of the new UK regulations, Betsson announced that they were closing the accounts of all UK players and invited them to carry on playing by moving to sister company Betsafe. Any players who missed the end of January deadline to make a final withdraw should contact Betsson’s customer support.

UK players won’t be able to play at Betsson’s dedicated table at Evolution Gaming anymore, but have no fear…

…Betsafe likewise have a dedicated blackjack table for its players.

---

NordicBet

Actually, many Evolution casinos have at least one dedicated table, including NordicBet who now have a branded blackjack table in the Riga studio.

Although most players will miss the chance to play at Evolution’s rare blue coloured table. NordicBet is limited to players from Nordic countries.

In other European market news the Belgian Gaming Commission released a statement telling online operators they had to make sure any live dealer games they provide originate within Belgium. Which was swiftly followed by the announcement of a new compliant studio in Belgium.

---

Paddy Power facelift

On my regular trawl around the casinos I came across Paddy Power’s live casino facelift. Coupled with the blurb how they had new dealers. More accurate would be to say that they aren’t using images of Playtech’s Italian dealers on the front page anymore.

The changes are only cosmetic and don’t even extend to the live lobby loading screen. With the facelift there’s been no apparent upturn in player numbers at the tables so far. Including a memorable Saturday night when only 1 seat was occupied across all 4 dedicated tables. If you like a table all to yourself I can recommend Paddy’s tables, and the dealers will be especially pleased if you want to chat.

A more significant change for Paddy Power players is the addition of 2 more dedicated blackjack tables to Paddy’s iPad App.

---

Bwin iPad App

Better late than never, bwin have joined the mobile revolution with live casino Apps for iPad/iPhone (and Android).

All 7 bwin dedicated roulette & blackjack tables at Evolution are playable on the iPad casino App.

The iPad App plays as effortlessly & smoothly as other Evolution live casino Apps.

---

William Hill VIP Host changes and decorum

The month long Christmas decorations were finally swept away at William Hill, and with them seemingly the good natured spirit of the dedicated Hosts also.

At the end of last year VIP Host Emma left. I had always found Emma to be helpful, friendly and professional.

Long serving Ami has also moved on after one last big William Hill staff party involving copious amounts of alcohol 🙂

This has left just Anna from the female side of the Hosts.

Accompanying these changes, one shift when Anna & Vladimir were working several players were blocked without any warning or explanation for chatting too much to dealers, and so on. This was done irrespective of how much they played across the William Hill exclusive tables. I suspect the block was more about a new ‘head broom’ wanting to improve dealing speeds and hitting dealer target point scores to impress management, rather than maintaining good player relations.

I’ve always felt Evolution live support give players who are abusive too many warnings before any block. It appears though that the Hosts are free to act on a whim. If they want to apply ‘amount of chat’ rules then fine, but giving no prior warning or explanation was sh*tty.

Good job Vladimir & Anna.