Recently, Bodog sent out a call to all female poker players for a chance at a professional sponsorship. Read more.
The move recognizes the growing number of female poker players playing online and in other venues. But the move is also both edgy and sexy, and as we all know sex sells.
Sex has always been inherently linked to the gambling industry, as if gambling, money and sex go hand in hand. In many cases, I suppose they do. Why is it that sex sells in the online gambling community? Gambling online is a relatively isolated event done mostly in the comfort of one’s own home, so why all the images of scantly clad women holding dice or cards?
I’m not complaining, it’s always a breath of fresh air to see a sexy woman staring back at you, even if it is from a computer screen. It naturally appeals to a mostly male audience, but perhaps the biggest effect of using sexy imagery is the glamour in it. Not every guy out there, excluding myself of course, has beautiful women hanging off them. But the imagery seen on many sites portrays that lifestyle.
The lifestyle of the big shot, the high roller in the casino, with gorgeous women swarming him as he runs the table, is it trickery? Are we being tricked into thinking we can somehow live that life if we play with a specific site? I don’t think that’s the aim, though I imagine some men feel that way. And to be real, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with allowing your imagination to take hold while you entertain yourself with online gaming.
Here’s my suggestion to online gaming companies, and it may be a little out there.
What Bodog has done is a start, but why not take it a little further… Why not call all female poker players on the site to send in their photographs and choose from the hottest applicants and make a real player calendar. Imagine that? It would almost be like the online poker version of America’s Next Top Model. You could even call it something like Poker’s Next Top Model or something cool. Then take it to the next level, by adding chat rooms so guys like me could mingle with these girls and other girls on the site while they play poker. Next thing you know, you not only have an online gaming network, but a dating network as well, two birds baby, one bone, er stone. Ridiculous, maybe, but hey, sex sells so you never know.
