SuperSport has become the first fully regulated online poker room in Croatia with a beta-mode released on January 11. Pokerdom partners with Betinaction and Altenar to launch a sports betting product.
SuperSport is the first gambling entity to launch a fully regulated online poker product in Croatia.
The first of its kind is currently in Beta-Mode and only available in a downloadable format. The SuperSport team is busy working on desktop versions for Mac and Windows as well as a mobile product.
Speaking to PokerNews in an exclusive interview, Vedran Katic, Head of Poker for SuperSport, explained why it had taken so long for a Croatian based company to offer an online poker product in this beautiful part of the world.
The online poker license, which costs 4m Croatian Kuna (€600,000) per year, runs from January 1 – December 31, so it was more cost effective to begin in the New Year.
Katic also explained how complicated it was to build their online poker room from scratch – online poker infrastructure must originate within the country – and how they were waiting to see how the state lottery would handle their first foray into legal online gambling waters before getting their feet wet.
The beta-mode offers No-Limit Hold’em cash games. Player involvement peaked at 190 during the first day. SuperSport also provides a skeletal tournament schedule. Further derivatives of poker will depend on liquidity, which, for the record, will not be restricted to Croatian customers. The legislation allows them to join the .com player pool, but that may not be possible with only Croatian Kun allowed on the site for the time being.
Croatian fans of PokerStars, 888, and partypoker can’t get too excited about the resurgence of online poker. The rules state that one must own a land-based casino before the Ministry of Finance will distribute a license. SuperSport does own a small casino and has over 300 sports betting shops, the first of which they opened 13-years ago.
SuperSport also offers online casino games and an online sportsbook. The sportsbook has been in existence for seven years. The online casino opened its virtual doors at the front end of 2016.
The SuperSport team has done their homework on their ideal customer avatar. The new software focuses on the recreational player with no Seating Scripts, and no Heads Up Displays (HUDS).
Pokerdom Adds Sports Betting Product
Pokerdom players can now use their online gambling wallet to fund their sports betting habit. The Russian-facing online gaming site has joined forces with Betinaction and Altenar to create the new option.
Pokerdom players can now enjoy Poker, Casino, Sports and Live Dealer games on the site. Pokerdom is one of the only online poker rooms in the world to offer Open Face Chinese (OFC) games. And in 2015, they created an interesting marketing gimmick when they offered players the prize of playing Strip Poker with supermodels Svetlana Bilyalova, Aleksandra Markina, and Aiza Dolmatova. It was a savvy move with the trio commanding an army of over three million social media followers between them.
