Malcolm Graham Interview

This is an extract from an interview with PKR CEO Malcolm Graham. To read the full article sign-up for your free subscription to InsidePoker Business.

InsidePoker Business (IPB) What do you make of the poker market, is it in decline and is that decline terminal?

Malcolm Graham (MG) I don't think it's growing in Europe. There are certain economies such as Ireland and Greece where the current macro-economic climate is pretty horrible and people are being more circumspect about their poker activity. I don't think poker is over. It's going to be a very important business going forward, but I think there is no doubt there is going to be a smaller number of bigger players and we will see a number of operators where poker is not their core business sub-contract their poker to someone else. It is interesting that Betfair has made the decision that it is better at sports betting so they will focus on that.

IPB Do you feel people are getting bored of poker?

MG People get burned out playing poker, and we as an industry need to be smarter about trying to help the players who are less successful retain their interest. A lot of that is about education and playing at the right stake levels for your bankroll. We are doing a lot of work in educating our micro-stakes players so they don't deposit $50 and go and sit at a $1/$2 table. I think you can educate the consumers about managing their bankroll and playing within their limits. That is something the industry is not very good at and we are very focused on. In the long term it's good for business.

IPB How do you go about educating the consumer on issues like that?

MG One of our big messages at the moment is making sure we focus on tutorials and we have a huge library of poker strategy content on our site. We have made a big investment on customer relationship management to make sure that is a real time process. We have a system in place where if someone goes to buy-in to a game a message will pop up that says, before you play why don't you read this article? I think that is where the sophisticated operator should be moving and in turn that will help reduce churn rates and people's frustration when they don't win.

IPB Do you think the industry needs to work harder to make poker more fun?

MG Yes, obviously. One of the industry issues is everyone has always tried to build their brand around professionals, and for a certain group of people it's a very attractive proposition to play against the top players. But if you want to reach the mass market then make it more fun - make it easier and accessible. And technology will help that. As we improve our technology and make it more accessible one would expect to see the market grow and evolve. People will be spending more time online and that is the way people will interact with each other more and more. So I'm not nervous at poker disappearing.>

IPB Do you think there needs to be a new marketing message in poker?

MG In the UK, for example, I don't think there is anyone who is likely to play online poker who is not aware of it. We've all tried to reach new demographics. My view is I don't want to be at the forefront of creating a new market. It's expensive, and you can throw a lot of money at a problem without any compelling results. We know where our core is and they are already well exposed to poker and by offering them something different we can try and persuade them to switch allegiance.