Microgaming and PokerStars Sign New Content Deal

Long gone is the time when sports betting and gambling operators were only focused on one area. In the past, certain operators were only offering sports betting, whereas other operators were in the casino gambling industry.

Now, casino operators start offering sports betting services, betting operators include casino and poker in their offer and poker operators also diversify. Not only can operators attract larger audience with a more diversified gaming offer, but they also may encourage their existing customers to try something new, which in turn would increase the operator’s revenues.

Games Will Become Available in the Summer

It has just been reported that one of the leading casino gaming providers struck a deal with one of the top online poker brands. Namely, Microgaming’s games that are part of the Quickfire platform will be available at PokerStars in the future. This is the first high-profile content deal for Microgaming this year, as PokerStars joins a long list of online casinos which feature Microgaming’s games.

PokerStars is still primarily focused on online poker, but after it launched its casino website in 2014, the company decided that it needs to include a larger number of high quality games and they saw Microgaming as a perfect partner. Microgaming’s games will become available at PokerStars toward the middle of this year and players can enjoy playing them both on mobile, as well as desktop devices.

PokerStars’ casino website is available in a wide range of countries where online casino gaming is legal, including Europe and other regions. In order to increase its target group and not to be limited solely to poker players, PokerStarts also decided to launch a sports betting platform.

PokerStarts still hopes that the legal status of online poker will soon change in, at least, several US states. The company has been very active in California, where amendments to the poker bill were submitted last summer.

PokerStars’ Successful Diversification

PokerStars is owned by Rational Group, an Isle of Man-based company and which in term is a branch of Amaya. The company’s financial report shows that the company registered revenues above $270 million in the 3^rd quarter of 2016, which is a 9.5% increase.

Moreover, participation of online poker in the total revenue figures was 73%, whereas the participation of betting and casino gaming together was a total 24%. The same period last year, the casino and betting percentage was a mere 15%. These figures clearly show that the company has employed a successful diversification plan.

Experts claim that despite the fact that poker remains PokerStars’ main source of income and the company holds the leader position in the online poker market, it is only logical for the company to expand and enrich its offering.

Despite the expectations of improvements of the legal status of poker in some US states, the past few years haven’t been very positive for online poker. In fact, it can be said that online poker has been stagnating and that the number of new players is not increasing with a sufficient tempo. Recently, PokerStarts entered the Czech market after the country started regulating online gambling.