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Caesars did not have to create its own software from scratch. The company used the same software developed and employed by 888poker, which has been operating since 2002. Ultimate Poker in its very beginnings. Table windows could not be resized, making it difficult to arrange multiple ones on a computer screen. In addition, the tables did not “pop up” in a way familiar to most players when it came their turn to act. Ultimate Gaming personnel themselves admitted that the software was still in a very preliminary stage, and that improvements would be added over time based on user feedback. This is a promise Ultimate Gaming has lived up to, in great part thanks to its decision to create its own software, which enables the company to make adjustments with relative ease. A few months after the release of Ultimate Poker, Caesars Interactive launched its own real-money online poker product in Nevada, WSOP.com. Caesars did not have to create its own software from scratch. The company used the same software developed and employed by 888poker, which has been operating since 2002. The advantage that 888poker’s decade-old software had over Ultimate Poker’s much younger one was very evident. Unlike Ultimate Poker, WSOP.com was Mac-compatible, allowing more users to play. It easily permitted the resizing of tables (Ultimate Poker eventually caught up to this too). The table “lobby”—the area of the online poker client where users get to view which games are running—could be sorted much more easily on WSOP.com, and included more filters. Waiting lists for full tables were another edge that WSOP.com’s software had over its sole Nevada competitor. But because Caesars Interactive does not own its own software, it cannot easily amend or adapt it without first having to go through an entirely separate company. This trade-off is one of the most important
consequences resulting from the decision to either create one’s own software or adopt somebody else’s. Its impact extends beyond the merely technical. Online poker players in Nevada and in New Jersey have lamented the lack of Ultimate Poker’s software features compared to its competitors. But at the same time, it is generally acknowledged that Ultimate Poker’s customer service is superior to the rest, since the staff enjoys an unparalleled closeness and access to the product that players experience. This fact is not lost on Caesars Interactive, which has been known to be aspiring to something better. Although the company currently makes use of 888poker’s software, it is concurrently in the process of developing a more selfstylized proprietary platform with the help of French company Lucien Barriere Poker.
On to New Jersey The software platform situation in the U.S. becomes increasingly colorful and complex when we look at New Jersey, another state that has legalized and launched online gaming. The state’s decision to allow a wider suite of online casino games beyond poker created a demand for additional, more diversified platforms. In addition, a greater number of online gaming interests chose to go live in New Jersey from the get-go, seeing a greater opportunity for revenue than in Nevada, a much smaller state. 888, which continues to supply the online poker technology to WSOP.com in New Jersey, is also its own independent operator in that state, thanks to an operational license lent to it by Caesars, which possesses a few to go around. MARCH 2014 www.ggbmagazine.com
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