888poker Must Quickly Rebound After Poor First Half Results

888poker, the second biggest online poker website in the world needs to do quite a bit of work if they are going to compete with their rivals in the online poker market.

The online poker room reported poor results during the first half of 2018 as the company’s recorded one of its worst performances in recent times.

Parent company 888 Holdings’ revenue has dropped by 28 percent in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period in the previous year and the company admitted that it faced challenging times during the first six months of the year.

The bad news comes after the company saw a 7.7 percent drop in revenues during 2017. 888poker’s revenue has decreased each year since 2014. Losing the Australian market was cited as one of the reasons for last year’s drop and is also one of the main reasons been used to explain the dramatic dip in 2018.

The FIFA World Cup and changes such as regulatory shifting in Europe have also been identified as being part of the problem. Italy also implemented strict advertising rules that make it difficult for companies like 888poker to acquire new customers.

While it wasn’t mentioned, increased competition has also made things a lot tougher. PokerStars leads the market and they continue to dominate as they roll out exciting events and innovative marketing campaigns. Partypoker has also upped their profile through increased spending and the introduction of events in the UK and The Bahamas that feature millions of dollars in guaranteed prizes.

Online Casino And Sports Betting Strong

Despite the troubling trend emerging in 888’s poker division, 888Holdings online casino has seen revenues increase by over $14 million over the same period when compared to last year. A $3 million jump in sportsbook revenues is also good news for the parent company as sports betting has now become their second-largest vertical.

Representatives from 888poker said that their poker platform is partly responsible for the gains in their sports betting handle as poker players at the site have been drawn to betting on sports. One official said that poker is still a very useful tool for bringing players to the sportsbook and casino. Although revenue has declined for 888poker, online poker will continue to be an important part of the company.

There are reports that 888poker has plans to launch a new platform called Poker 8 shortly and it will help the company boost its online poker revenues.