Q&A: Yaniv Sherman, 888 SVP, on why live tournaments are increasingly important to New Jersey poker
Sherman talks to EGR North America about ive tournaments, eSports and liquidity sharing
Q: We’ve seen a succession of big live poker tournaments in New Jersey. Are these becoming an increasingly important marketing and acquisition channel?
A: At the end of the day the New Jersey poker market is a small one and you can get traction through live events. Live events are a growing channel because other marketing channels don’t exist or aren’t performing. Affiliates need licensing, for example, so there simply aren’t that many.
The key now is how you cross-sell effectively between offline and online and how to tap into new demographics with that live product.
That’s why mobile is important and that’s why getting integrated into rewards schemes is important. You need that connection so as well as building your brand you also monetize those tournaments.
Q: Do you have an update on liquidity sharing? Are you still actively trying to compact between Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey?
A: We have operations across all three states so we are a natural partner for that but right now there are no concrete efforts. We had success with Nevada and Delaware but it’s really up to the governors and regulators agreeing among themselves on adding New Jersey. If another state came online and was willing to compact that would really expedite things because no-one would want to be left out.
As far as the UK, we received a letter a few months ago about sharing liquidity but there’s been no further conversations about that as far as I know.
I’m assuming they came across some regulatory complexities because the UK has an open liquidity pool and New Jersey is closed so it introduces some restrictions. It would be much simpler to add new states rather than going across the pond.
Q: We’ve also seen a lot of poker firms partner up with eSports teams through sponsorship and live streaming shows. Is this an area where 888 sees an opportunity?
A: We’ve been looking at eSports quite closely for the past year. It’s a fascinating phenomenon. If you want to know where some of the poker players that never arrived went, it’s probably there. We’ve done some ventures in Europe and seen some success there but eSports isn’t mainstream yet. It’s a code word for a potential blue ocean of new players for poker, casino and sports. But to date no-one has been able to crack that cross-sell. I think it’s five years away from being really important.