PADDY POWER, Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, will this week launch a suite of online poker games to capitalise on one of the most lucrative areas of internet betting, writes Ciaran Hancock.
The bookmaker is planning a “soft launch” of Paddy Power Poker, which will involve an initial 200 players who have been pre-registered. An icon for the poker games was recently added to the Paddypower.ie website, although this has not yet been enabled. Analysts estimate that about £100m (€143m) a year is bet on online poker in the UK alone.
The company is targeting Irish and British players but the games will also be open to residents of some other European countries.
Paddy Power will act as a facilitator for players, offering them the opportunity to play live over the internet with players hosted by other sites. This makes it no-risk betting for the bookmaker, which will typically earn about 2% of each pot.
The company will also organise online tournaments, charging a fee for each entry. Players will be required to put a minimum €10 or £10 into their betting accounts but the bookmaker will not extend credit. Novices will be able to play for stakes as low as 5p or 5c and small-stake gamblers are expected to account for a large volume of traffic on the site.
Paddy Power has already enjoyed success with its online casino, which was launched in January 2004. In the first six months of last year, the bookmaker earned an operating profit of €1m from the venture. The company was also recently voted by readers of the Racing Post as the best online betting website among 18 different providers in the UK and Ireland.
Online betting has revolutionised the image of poker. The game has also had its profile raised by high-stake tournaments carried by Channel 4 and Sky in Britain.
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