VideoPoker.com is the most popular video poker website, and it’s been booming during the pandemic. What really worked (or didn’t) during the closures and re-openings will probably take the next 12 months to evaluate, but we can draw some early conclusions. For one, sell your futures in Plexiglas now – April and May 2020 were probably the peak of both retail and casino demand. Cashless gaming was growing slowly before; expect it to snowball now. Sports betting was the hype leader before the shutdowns, and that should resume once the ballparks, gridirons and soccer fields reopen.
But perhaps the biggest winners will be in the online arena. Several vendors have reported large jumps in subscriptions and wagering here and abroad. VideoPoker.com saw their daily signup volumes double once the casinos were shuttered, and overall play is up 20%. That’s not too surprising, since it was already the most popular video poker site in the U.S. before the pandemic. However, direct comparisons with online competitors is not really fair, since VideoPoker.com is not truly a gambling site.
It began as a sales tool and a way to attract and teach players about the virtues of video poker. Most veteran operators recall when Gaming Hall of Fame member Ernie Moody first developed Triple Play Poker in 1997. Moody soon thereafter formed Action Gaming and pumped out the first few of his many hits: Five, Ten and Hundred Play; Spin Poker, Ultimate X and many more.
In 2006, Action Gaming Executive Vice President Mike Fields led the move to publicly re-brand the company as VideoPoker.com. Vendors still make out their checks to Action Gaming (sometimes via IGT) for games and conversions, but all marketing and public materials are under the new title.
“Early on, we saw that there was a group of enthusiastic blackjack players (online) that had their forums and chat groups. We wanted to have that same sense of community within the video poker world,” says Fields. “Of course we wanted to sell more games to operators, but we also wanted to create more avid players, give them a feeling of confidence and make them more comfortable gambling.”
Fields brought in marketer Greg Brown, now the CMO at VideoPoker.com, to shape their online presence and to make sure that community had a place to gather.
At the site’s launch, there were a dozen or more video poker sites on the internet, but the company’s close relationship with IGT quickly propelled VideoPoker.com to number one.
“Our games have the look and feel of what our subscribers see in the casino. That builds familiarity and trust from the players,” says Brown. That’s one of the curious things about video poker. Somehow, Si Redd and IGT discovered the magic formula of the right look and feel years ago, and other manufacturers have never quite got it right, despite multiple attempts to do so. The math and outcomes of virtually all video pokers are identical, but the IGT environment is just something special. And VideoPoker.com has that same look and feel.
According to Fields, they work very closely with IGT, especially on new games. “Once IGT submits a new game to their internal Product Assurance department, we make it available to our Gold subscribers. And once a game is officially approved by the regulatory bodies, we’ll put it out to all our players. It makes our members feel exclusive, and our players get to know these games before they ever hit the floors.”
That, of course, is their goal. While both executives say their main mission is to support brick-and-mortar operators, they obviously also want to sell more Action Gaming titles. “We want players to ask their hosts for these games,” says Brown.
“It’s good for both of us,” says Fields. “Operators will try one or two new games on a huge floor and expect players to find them in the first 60 days. We can build fans on-line ahead of time, and then both players and operators will know in advance if a game has potential.”
“Often we show our players new games that aren’t finished and will give feedback to IGT to make those game better before release,” he says. “Likewise, if we see a good game that is overholding, we can offer educational tips on how to play it better. Operators benefit because they can evaluate new games ahead of making their purchase decisions.”
For players, there’s more than just early access to new titles on VideoPoker.com. You can increase your skills dramatically. Software programs, particularly Video Poker for Winners, were for years the leading training tool. But now, according to Fields and Brown, “90% of VPFW’s features (are in) our Pro Training subscription.”
The one notable feature that operators may still like with VPFW is the ability to change the pay tables to evaluate in-house promotional jackpots. But that is balanced by several new features in VP.com that aren’t in VPFW. Most importantly, all the latest games are at VideoPoker.com, while VPFW only has the classics. And the ability to highlight and replay your mistakes is invaluable in getting better results.
Why would any operator want to make their players better, in doing so essentially lowering their hold? “We don’t have hard stats, but we’re convinced that you’ll capture just as much of a skilled player’s budget as you would with novice players. It may just take a while longer,” Fields says. “The better players will have a more enjoyable experience and return more often. For a few years, we heard those sorts of criticisms, but, slowly but surely, operators have come to see the wisdom of educating their players.”
You might guess that both these executives are also big fans of loose pay tables for the same reason. You’d be right. As Fields says: “You can shear a sheep over and over, but (you can) only skin it once.”
Membership at VideoPoker.com is free, but your game selection is limited, and you’ll see advertisements. At the Silver level, for $2.95 a month, the ads disappear. The $8.95 Gold level has all the games, old and new, along with a chat function, a section of Challenges, and what they call Pro Trainer Lite. Their newest version, which includes the full Pro Trainer, is the ultimate at $11.95 a month. Most serious players will likely make substantial improvements in their play in just a few sessions with the new Replay Your Errors feature offered in the Pro Trainer subscription (seen at left).
The most popular games at VideoPoker.com are not much different from the casino environment: Ultimate X, Super Times Pay, and Double Double Bonus are the leaders. Players also love contests in which they can compete with other subscribers. When competing, Triple Double Bonus, with its higher volatility, is the leader.
Competition and bragging rights within the community have shown to be powerful motivators. According to Brown, the site will “often get 10,000 players competing for a $25 prize.”
“We make a little bit of money, but we roll virtually all (of it) back into the product,” Fields says. “We would love to monetize VP.com more, but we want to stay away from being a gambling site. When we generate money, we just make larger prize pools for the contests. Our primary driver is to support our manufacturing and distribution partner IGT, and our mutual casino business.”
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