Plenty Women Poker Players Says Bluff
Published: Thursday, February 08, 2007 Online-Casinos.com
PLENTY OF WOMEN POKER PLAYERS SAYS BLUFF MAGAZINE
Worldwide eCOGRA survey used as information base for article
The leading poker magazine Bluff was among the first major publications to study the recently released Global Player Survey from online gambling standards body eCOGRA this month, focusing on findings in the study relating to women poker players.
Bluff zeros in on the fact that more women are playing online poker than ever. "Nearly 30 percent of all participants in this extensive study examining player behaviour are female, up from 15 percent in 2004," the article reveals going on to explain that an international gaming company confirms the trend is picking up on the corporate side, where more and more women are entering the gaming industry in leading positions.
The global online survey was commissioned by eCOGRA, a self-regulatory body in the gaming industry and undertaken by the Betting and International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University. It is the largest study so far analysing online poker and casino player's behaviour and involves nearly 11 000 players from 96 countries.
When comparing this information to data provided by "Internet Gambling and Wagering Business 2004", the percentage of women players rose from 15 percent to nearly 30 percent in the past 3 years.
Yara Wortmann, founder of poker and sports betting site Winunited.com, comments on the findings of the study in the Bluff piece: "When it comes to poker, a lot of women prefer the anonymity of the online environment in order to learn the game without risking any derogative remarks from other players. However, if you want to market yourself as a poker site in the midst of the fierce competition, you actually have to break out of that anonymity in order to distinguish yourself from the myriad of gaming pages."
The gaming industry is growing at a fast pace and a lot of highly qualified women are entering the industry as it offers a modern, progressive and fun work environment with good career perspectives, says Wortman. "At Winunited.com most top positions are held by women. This changed the whole marketing approach of the company," she reveals.
"We are approaching our customers in a very personal manner", says 37-year-old Wortmann.
"Last year we produced a black and white calendar with pictures of some of our female employees. We sent the calendar to our customers in order to show them who is behind the website and who we are. This created a huge amount of trust and loyalty with our customers and it drives new customers to us. As much as women and people in general might look for anonymity in their private lives, when paying with their credit card over the internet, they prefer to know exactly who they are dealing with. This is what we are offering them and it has been a very successfully concept."
