new poker site

[AlexMartin]

awesome feedback, yeah i understand the enormity of it; but i feel with the right people behind it there might be a shot at success. Does anyone have any idea what the development costs were for any of the major poker sites software? Iv tried to find some info but its all v well hidden. The best i could find was this thread on 2p2 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/191/programming/cost-time-develop-poker-software-1046679/

[gambleingaz]

Im guessing if you got something along the Tribeca software your on a winner.

[AlexMartin]

Im guessing if you got something along the Tribeca software your on a winner.

lol, showing ur age to the kids right there

loved the trumpet at the start of a comp, like ringing the dinner bell

[kinboshi]

It's really how long is a piece of string.

The PokerStars software has evolved over time, and during that time been redeveloped over and over again.  They will have spent tens of millions of pounds on it over the years.  You hear poker players moaning time and time again about inadequacies in the poker software that certain sites use - and yet it takes ages to look at and resolve these issues.  It's because it takes a fair bit of developer time and any down-time due to changes that haven't been properly checked and rechecked before launch will literally cost the business thousands and thousands of pounds.

I've worked on websites that have cost between half a million and a million pounds to design and develop to launch - only for them to require lots of post-launch development work that has cost tens of thousands of pounds.  It's pretty normal really as even with the best planning you're going to have unexpected things crop up, or the brief or scope of the project can change over time.

A smallish website can cost £10K, but then you have to get traffic to it.  Good SEO will cost significant money (and time, and effort) and if you go down the Pay-Per-Click route you're talking paying tens of pounds per click on poker-related terms.  If you have 100 people click on your Google Adwords ad @ £20/click, that's £2,000 you've spent, and how many of these are you going to convert into sign-ups?  Then how many of these sign-ups are going to deposit, and deliver a lifetime value that means your PPC-activity gives a positive ROI?  Lots of money to be spent on analysis of traffic data, UX-experts, email marketing to drive repeat visits and deposits, etc.  That's before you consider the other costs of site-maintenance, the thousands you'll have to spend every month on hosting, etc.

The easiest way to launch a new poker site would be to use an existing network and just be a skin on that.  But they work on a rake-basis and the costs of being on a network aren't small and probably wouldn't match your business model either?

[aaron1867]

How are you going to get businesses to advertise with you, when it has not been done before? I first thought this might have gone through a membership scheme

[corkeye]

awesome feedback, yeah i understand the enormity of it; but i feel with the right people behind it there might be a shot at success. Does anyone have any idea what the development costs were for any of the major poker sites software? Iv tried to find some info but its all v well hidden. The best i could find was this thread on 2p2 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/191/programming/cost-time-develop-poker-software-1046679/

trawling forums to get info on the costs to run pokerstars is a bit futile and pointless tbf.

[Rupert]

Fish don't especially care about rake as long as is market rates, far happier to pay for a higher quality product. Your costs will eat you alive very quickly if even make it to launch with the high startup costs.

[Woodsey]

Im guessing if you got something along the Tribeca software your on a winner.

lol, showing ur age to the kids right there

loved the trumpet at the start of a comp, like ringing the dinner bell

  Yes I remember that 

[Jamier-Host]

Love that you've come up with the next big thing over a boozy BBQ or something Alex

Happy to discuss at some point if you want - we're overdue a catchup...

[AlexMartin]

for sure jamie, idk i just think that it was very unusual for a market to transition from tangible to online as basically a mirror. Im not sure if its possible, but iv spoken to a few close pals (and will be speaking to a LOT more) and i think its got a shot.

Ill be harassing a lot of blondes and poker players worldwide in the next couple of months, i dont think raising investment would be that much of a problem, but there are a tonne of other hidden issues. As kin said, the piece of string analogy is apt. Still gonna think about giving it a v serious shot though.

[claypole]

I got your message....at some point a discussion with some of the commercial guys at perform may be worthwhile; there bread and butter is advertsing revenue and marketing from monetising content - the issue is a poker site is not comparable from a traffic perpective to premium soccer content, editorial, football data.  I think the only way this could work is as part of a broader traffic driver which can sustain higher marketing revenue - havent really given it much though, but your going down the Zinga route to an extent. 

Its good to dream - i think looking inside the current parameters of how internet poker has evolved, the stock answer will alway be "it can't work", because if you mirror vurrent models it won't.  You need to think one or two steps ahead in the evolution of the market and try and get a USP thats one step ahead....afraid I ain't got that far.

Happy for you to buy me lunch as per PM

[Tractor]

Im guessing if you got something along the Tribeca software your on a winner.

lol, showing ur age to the kids right there

loved the trumpet at the start of a comp, like ringing the dinner bell

  Yes I remember that 

Loved Tribeca, bring back Tribeca now (esp rake free lol)

[Woodsey]

Im guessing if you got something along the Tribeca software your on a winner.

lol, showing ur age to the kids right there

loved the trumpet at the start of a comp, like ringing the dinner bell

  Yes I remember that  

Loved Tribeca, bring back Tribeca now (esp rake free lol)

Tribeca paid for a couple of £7-8k safaris back in the day when I wasn't a fish  

[rfgqqabc]

Looking at 100m? Surely? Not sure how that investment can be found without some serious private investment.

[redarmi]

The fact it has been done before and failed shouldn't put you back.  WSEX had a lot of very good ideas but ultimately were very bad at the business aspects of it.  If anything the fact that they were one of the pioneers of in running betting, betting exchanges in the US market should persuade you that it isn't an awful idea but you do have to find a way to monetise it and operate it and these are the challenges that many very clever entrepreneurs miss and is, ultimately, the reason they fail or don't make as much money as they should.  Good ideas don't make as much money as good businesses ultimately despite the romantic notions of the opposite.