- Last summer, the global igaming giant 888 Holdings appointed veteran 888 exec Amit Berkovich as VP, Head of 888poker.
- “I was always a poker fan but never imagined that I would be so lucky to have a career in the industry.”
- “I oversee our offering online and offline, the P&L, our go to market strategy, new market penetration, brand marketing, new players acquisition and retention.”
Last summer, global igaming giant 888 Holdings appointed Amit Berkovich — a veteran 888 executive with a decade of experience across various roles in the company — as VP, Head of 888poker. Berkovich steps into the shoes of Elad Nir, taking on the role at a critical point in online poker’s development — not just for 888’s own aspirations but for the industry as a whole.
The world has moved into a new post-pandemic normality, which means both the end to the COVID-fueled online poker mini-boom and the opportunities presented with the return to live poker. There are significant developments in igaming regulation in both North America and Europe: New regulations in Germany, the Netherlands and Ontario create more red tape but fresh opportunities for regulated operators.
It also comes at a time of heightened competition. In half a decade, GGPoker has risen from nowhere to become the largest online poker room in the world, upending the status quo. There are newcomers, like WPT Global, looking to replicate this success. Meanwhile, there is the perennial competition from club-based poker apps and other forms of entertainment.
In his first interview since taking on the role, Berkovich talks to Poker Industry PRO on these topics and more, touching on the team’s approach to live events and ambassadors, content creation and product development, responsible gaming and standing out from the competition.
Personal story
Tell us a bit about your work history, both before and within 888.
My background is in marketing and business. I started my career as a business analyst for Nilsen before joining 888 as a retention manager and climbing my way up. I was always a poker fan but never imagined that I would be so lucky to have a career in the industry.
I was appointed [Head of Poker] in July 2021. It means I oversee our offering online and offline, the P&L, our go-to-market strategy, new market penetration, brand marketing, new players acquisition, and retention.
What have been your main priorities since taking on the role of Head of Poker?
888 is investing heavily in responsible gaming and specifically looking to remove fraudulent behavior on the poker table.
I would divide it into 4:
- To encourage an ever greater focus at 888 on quality poker content creation, with the understanding that poker players love to see new poker content and that we as an online top-tier brand are in the entertaining business, whether in terms of online gaming or content.
- To make sure we optimize our offering and product to be relevant for what players are really looking for today, particularly around MTT and some of the more casual styles of poker games like JP SNG.
- To look for markets where we are under indexing and where our offering has the potential to grow.
- To encourage fair gaming — 888 is investing heavily in responsible gaming and specifically looking to remove fraudulent behavior on the poker table.
What are your main goals for the remainder of 2022?
We are planning to launch more interesting MTT variants, while continuing to create more unique poker content and improving our foothold/penetration in key markets such as Brazil, Ontario, and The Netherlands.
888 recently said goodbye to Dominik Nitsche, Martin Jacobson, and Sofia Lovgren as ambassadors, but signed up Alexandre Mantovani, Sam Abernathy, and more Twitch streamers to the roster. Is there an underlying trend here in the role of ambassadors in 888, any change in strategy here?
All of our ambassadors will forever be a key part of our history, but like any business, we need to constantly ensure that there are synergies between our goals and the people who represent us. We want to make sure that we partner with people that fit our geography expansion plans and can create amazing content on all entertainment platforms.
The recent signing of Chris Eubank Jr., a boxing champion who is also a big fan of the game, is a great example of the strong connection we want to continue to make between poker and entertainment.
New markets
When we heard Ontario regulation was taking place we wanted to make sure that we were one of the first to comply
Ontario marks yet another segregated online poker pool. 888 now operates in half a dozen segregated markets. Does this further segregation hurt online poker’s chances long-term, or is 888 hopeful that markets like Ontario will ultimately reconnect with the global player pool?
There is no doubt that as more markets become segregated, poker operators will face more challenges, but there are also opportunities for reputable and regulated companies like 888 as a result. We hope that Ontario will at some point share liquidity with other networks, and believe that this will be good for everyone — operators and players alike.
If Ontario remains segregated for the foreseeable, how many operators can the Ontario online poker market sustain, and does 888 see themselves among them?
The past shows us that a number is very hard to predict, but I am very confident that with our brand and strong regulation experience 888 will come out as one of the market leaders nonetheless.
Some operators continue offering online poker from offshore as their licenses are processed; the market is being served by both licensed and unlicensed sites. Has this helped or hurt 888? What lessons can be learned about how this process unfolded? p Generally speaking, we are more focused on growing the business in the most responsible and regulated manner. When we heard Ontario regulation was taking place we wanted to make sure that we were one of the first to comply, giving Ontario players the safest and secure playing platform through our technology.
Our mobile app is one of the best in the world.
We invested strongly in order to give local players the best offering from day one, with a keen focus on our tournament schedule, guarantees, product features and different variants such as Blast. We hope to continue to provide Ontario players with the best offering possible both now and into the future.
A relaunch in the Netherlands is also in the making; is 888 confident it will receive its license in the coming months? How big of an opportunity is the market for 888?
The Netherlands is one of the biggest poker markets in the world and Dutch players are known for their love of the game. We are looking forward to returning to the market and hope to be back by the end of the year.
Poker product
What features of Poker 8 are you most proud of, and how does it set itself apart from the ever-increasing competition?
For me, the main thing I’m proud of is the portrait layout. We were the first regulated brand to launch it across all offerings and we noticed the fantastic way it resonated from our players. I also think we have added some very cool retention tools, such as gift drop which is giving players random surprise gifts and bonuses while seated at the table.
How important is mobile in today’s online poker landscape, and do you see 888 stacking up vs other products on the market?
We are constantly evolving our product to make sure we have the best possible poker experience for our players.
Our mobile app is one of the best in the world. It is very easy and intuitive, and the portrait mode really reflects how people use their devices these days. Mobile is how people are entertaining themselves now, and every gaming company needs to make sure it has the best mobile experience. Nonetheless, PC gaming is still very important for poker and we have exciting plans in the works to improve our PC experience as well.
In the last decade we have seen a flurry of innovation across the industry, like BLAST-style games, PKO MTTs and more, but things have seemed to have quietened down a bit in the last couple of years. Where do you see the industry and 888 heading next when it comes to new game innovations like these?
I expect there will continue to be a great reduction in the skills gap in the sector, with the more recreational players given the tools to improve their game as embedded in the platform. This will help to create a more exciting playing experience for the more recreational players.
The upgrade from 888poker’s version 6 to version 8 was a quantum leap in terms of product quality. Is Poker 9 or 10 in the works? Can we expect another transformation change, or will product development be more incremental moving forward?
In the coming years we are working more on improving the existing offering in an incremental manner. We are constantly evolving our product to make sure we have the best possible poker experience for our players.
I general, how do you think 888poker does in terms of speed of product development? Could it do more to be nimbler and push out updates faster, or will complexity, regulation etc always hamper a rapid development cycle?
We see ourselves as entertainers in my team, and as such we want to make sure we constantly have more innovation and new things on the platform to enhance the gaming experience. However, we also want to make sure that 888 remains a fully regulated brand that enforces the strictest responsible gaming measures.
For example, we recently launched Control Centre, which is a state-of-the-art dashboard that allows players to get real time indications about their game play and spending. So these are the things we need to balance between.
Does 888 plan any changes to the approach around marketing or content creation surrounding live events?
Live events are an amazing platform for us to produce top-notch content while we meet our ambassadors, streamers and other top players from the industry. The content we produce during events create great memories for the players who are there, but even more importantly help us to reach those who weren’t present and show them the experience we can offer them in case they choose to travel and play with us in the future.
We are very happy that live events are back and our goal moving forward is to enhance them even further, keep creating compelling and entertaining live streams and run on-the-ground productions with our talents.
With the 888 magazine, twitch channel and ambassadors, 888 produces a lot of unique content around poker. How does this content creation fit into 888’s overall strategy? Can we expect to see any changes in approach in 2022 and beyond?
Content is king. It’s a way for us to constantly engage with our community and grow it by creating an ongoing and entertaining conversation with them. For us, it’s almost like a second business, as we see poker as an amazing story generator. The platforms to tell these stories might change every now and then, but we aim to be present in every place in which there are poker lovers who are looking to consume great poker content.
Our focus on quality content continues to grow, and in order to keep this evolution going we need to continue to enhance our assets such as our production team, talents and the platforms we operate on. What we have done on Twitch in the past year is a great example of our strategy and we’re constantly looking into ways to grow and improve in both quality and reach.
Responsible Gaming
Please tell us where you see 888poker now in terms of their responsible gambling offering? Under your purview, where do you see 888poker’s RG efforts improving in 2022 and beyond?
Wherever we operate, we work closely with the local regulator and ensure that we meet their guidelines and highest expectations.
As previously mentioned, we recently launched Control Centre, a dashboard that allows players to get real time indications about their game play and spending, and limit them as needed in order to make sure their experience is fun and entertaining and not harmful.
The use of RTA software is a significant concern, and we will continue to work hard to effectively develop our detection abilities
We have also made significant progress in our bot and RTA detection abilities, developing new technology, hiring data scientists and professional poker players who are working together to find those programs that allow for an unfair advantage. We of course compensate players who have lost money to players using such software.
We can clearly say that fair gaming is a main focus of ours going forward. We recently revealed that in the past year we confiscated and reimbursed $300K from fraudulent behavior that was detected by our team. Moving forward we aim to keep investing heavily in order to continue to ensure a safe playing ground for our players.
The use of Real-time Assistance (RTA) software is an increasing concern among online poker players. Do you see this as the number one issue when it comes to cheating in online poker?
The use of RTA software is a significant concern, and we will continue to work hard to effectively develop our detection abilities in order to counter violators’ attempts to disguise their use.
What does 888 do to currently combat this problem, and what could it do more?
Over the course of 2021, we have increased the headcount of our team who is focused on fair gaming, further developed our tech monitoring software, and hired a number of leading data scientists and professional poker players to work alongside the team to detect bots and Real Time Advisors.
Live poker
What does 888 have planned for live poker tour in 2022 and beyond?
When the year began, we didn’t have as much clarity regarding the ability to travel and produce events. Luckily, we have an amazing and professional team who, despite the difficulties experienced in recent months, has been able to ensure that this year the schedule will be very similar to the one we had in 2019.
Over the last couple of years new players have got more acquainted with poker in its online form. This new generation is eager to extend their experience to the live scene.We’ve already visited London three times and had an amazing event during May in Barcelona. Moving forward we’ll be visiting Bucharest, Madrid and more destinations we haven’t been to in a long time.
Live poker have been mostly suspended over the last 2+ years due to the coronavirus, giving operators a chance to re-assess their approach. Will 888 plan to do anything different with the resumption of the 2022 schedule? Can we expect to see a similar level investment, change in approach, markets, etc?
The 888poker LIVE series was kept up and running during the pandemic in places where COVID restrictions had been lifted, so we had several great events such as in Bucharest and London in 2021.
Lately we’ve seen the field become even bigger as players who couldn’t travel are now returning to play joined by their friends in person at live events. In addition, over the last couple of years new players have got more acquainted with poker in its online form, and so now this new generation is eager to extend their poker experience to the live scene as well.
At our 888poker LIVE event at Barcelona I talked with many players who said that the event was the first they had ever played live. Now with restrictions eased, people are looking to travel and combine other activities such as poker as part of their vacation, so we are hoping to continue to host our events in top destinations and even extend to new ones in the near future.
It is a very crowded market, with all major online poker operators running big live tours alongside large events from live tour operators. How does 888 set itself apart in this crowded market? What makes an 888 event attractive and distinctive to consumers?
I think it all comes down to the balance we create between the tournament structure, the destinations and the easy-going atmosphere we create through the buy-ins and the ability to engage with our team.
This has always been a part of our brand values and I think our live events reflect this perfectly.
