Adjarabet has completed a full migration of its poker offering to the Microgaming platform; they are the first operator to use the revolutionary Babelfish API.

The project, a joint effort with Georgian development house Singular, involved Adjarabet building their own custom poker software. Using Microgaming’s Babelfish API, this software is ‘plugged in’ to Microgaming’s servers, giving Adjarabet a completely tailored, unique poker client with none of the hassle or cost of server-side development and hosting.

Adjarabet was founded in 1998 and has firmly established itself as the Georgian market leader in poker, casino, sports betting and skill games. The company made waves in 2013, when it was revealed that the Georgia-regulated operator was one of the world’s biggest standalone poker sites. In 2014, following a promotion giving away over 500,000 Georgian Lari, it was the third-largest poker room in the world.

"Adjarabet has generated a lot of interest in the last couple of years and naturally I am thrilled that they have chosen Microgaming and our Babelfish technology to take their poker platform to the next level," comments Alex Scott, Head of Poker at Microgaming. "It has been a pleasure working with Singular and Adjarabet to do something that has never been done before in poker, and I’m very excited to see how we can grow poker together over the coming years."

Adjarabet’s custom-designed software is available in both download and instant-play versions, with mobile coming soon. Adjarabet’s players will continue to play at tables in Georgian Lari, but because their software is running on the MPN systems, they can add network liquidity to their offering at any time with the flip of a switch.

"We were looking for a partner to help us grow and improve our poker offering; when Microgaming presented Babelfish we knew it was exactly what we needed," comments Alastair Ives, Head of Poker at Adjarabet. "The Babelfish API allows us to offer a product that is completely tailored to our customer base, eliminating the pain of migrating to a new software provider. We are very happy with how the process has been handled and with the results of the migration so far."

With Adjarabet live, Microgaming can also reveal that the MPN Poker Tour’s planned stop in Tbilisi, Georgia, will be run in conjunction with Adjarabet. Held at the Tbilisi Sports Palace from the 28th to 31st May 2015, the event will offer players a substantial guaranteed prize pool for a minimal $550 buy-in.

The launch of Adjarabet comes at an exciting time for Microgaming poker, with several other new operator signings to be announced in the coming months, and major changes to the poker software also on the way.

Microgaming announces the launch of a revolutionary new technology for poker software.

Babelfish, named after the fictional creature which performed universal translation, is a brand-new API which allows any software developer to create poker client software and run it securely on the MPN. Operators can develop software in any programming language, and using the Babelfish API, join in the MPN’s liquidity pool, giving them access to all of the network’s cash games and tournaments (both real money and play money).

"Babelfish is definitely a game changer for poker," comments Alex Scott, Head of Poker at Microgaming. "It allows operators to customise their poker software to a higher degree than has ever been possible before, without having to go standalone. Furthermore, it allows them to do this without having to worry about expensive hosting costs, random number generators, or any of the other complexities that come with developing server software.

"Babelfish also has many other advantages. For example, operators can build software for almost any conceivable device – from specific mobile devices, to games consoles, to smart TVs. If you were so inclined, you could even build poker software for a smartwatch, a connected fridge or an in-car entertainment system. The only limit is your imagination."

Operators can tailor their bespoke client as much as they wish in order to customise the software to the specific market they are targeting; any language can be supported.

The first operator to make use of Babelfish, a well-known major operator in the poker marketplace, will be going live imminently using a client that they have designed and built from scratch. This operator’s completely custom-built client is carefully tailored to meet the needs of their players. The new operator will be migrating all of their players to the MPN, offering a mix of private and shared-liquidity games, providing mutual benefits for both the operator and the network.

"With this new operator on board, our network will grow significantly. But this is not the only exciting news that the MPN has for 2015", continued Alex Scott. "This year we want to be at the pinnacle of the poker industry – this is just the first step!"

The first operator to go live with Babelfish will be announced in the coming weeks.

Visit the Microgaming team at ICE Totally Gaming, 3rd – 5th February 2015 at ExCeL, London, stand N5-220.

The regulatory landscape for online gambling websites ishugely diverse. However offshore websites are popularly used by millions of fans, even in countries where ostensibly real money gambling activities are not allowed. Most Western European countries have regulatory systems in place, while the majority of the USA, as well as Asian countries don’t have much going in terms of regulation.

Russian courts have made ISP’s responsible for blocking internet gambling websites that are "illegally" offering this form of online gaming, and the latest website to bite the dust is the almighty PokerStars. Here is pays to remember that like most people in the world –the Russians love playing poker. Some of the best WPT, and WSOP players are Russians who first started playing online. Now a November 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has put a spoke in that wheel. But it does not stop here, some major type of censorship pogrom appears to be on the cards, with opposition news groups and others being affected.

According to the press, this ruling has not been properly enforced since its inception, but things are starting to change. Although land gambling is restricted to special zones, online gambling is strictly speaking – illegal. Access to PokerStars has now been blocked, together with a host of other gambling websites, and even some sites that do not offer real money gambling games.

PokerStars has the lions’ share of the market for online poker globally. The Russian Federation cutting them out of the equation will obviously have an impact on numbers. It is a very large country, with a very large poker following. While we doubt the effects of a ban will put this mammoth poker brand out of business, it could well be a hard knock.

Other A-listed gambling brands to come under the ban include; Ladbrokes, SportingBet, Unibet, Carbon Poker, and the dedicated Russian PartyPoker.net website. Affiliate sites have been included in the ban and in total,approximately fifty websites have been affected. Although some players are reporting that they are unable to access these websites, but somehow still manage to access tables. Not quite sure how that works, but PokerStars remains positive, and has offered reassurance to fans stating ~ "at this time we do not believe this changes our ability to offer services to Russian players. As such our operations continue as usual."

For many years poker has been one of the best love games in the USA. As American as apple pie – this game has become immensely popular world-wide due to the media coverage big tournaments attract. The advent of online poker has also features in this growth in popularity, and one of the really big changes being seen is that more and more females are playing. Once thought to be the domain of the male of the species, social poker has seen a growth rate of 22% for female fans throughout 2013.

IGT – otherwise known as International Game Technology are a global leader in the production of gaming tech. They provide gambling games to live casinos, as well as casinos online. This new data regarding player patterns, and preferences, was revealed from a US Social Casino Index project. The information comes from a pool of over six million players who make use of IGT’s DoubleDown Casino which is a Facebook powered product. It can be played online or by mobile, and lays claim to being the "world’s largest virtual casino".

While there is a difference between social gaming and gambling online for real money prizes. IGT provides games designed for both of these purposes. It is obvious why they need to keep a finger on the pulse of trends – because gambling is their business. It also pays to not that most states in the USA still do not allow online gambling for real money prizes. However, social gambling products can be monetized in various innovative ways.

The traditional way of thinking about poker being a male-dominated is definitely being thoroughly researched now. This information proves that female fans are increasing at a rapid rate. Gone are the days when ladies were banished to bingo, while the men got on with the serious business of playing this game of skill.

It is appealing to a far broader audience than ever before, and it is only a matter of time we believe, until we see even more females seated at the felt, in popular live competitions. At one time these competitions were also segregated to male and female competitors, but this is also something that has changed with the maturing of poker into an awesome card game for all. It does not distinguish between sex, race, age or physical ability. All a poker player needs to have to win is a very good game.

The price tag is a massive €38.3 million, and the acquisition is the online poker affiliate business known as PokerStrategy – this business specialises in poker coaching, and teaching strategy. The purchaser is Playtech, and it looks as though they are rather keen to generate new revenue streams. Online poker has not been performing as well as it did in the past, so, it makes sense for a company as large as Playtech to look at new ways to strengthen its position in this market place.

Playtech is an Israeli-owned software company that is massively prominent in the UK online gambling space. A number of the very large brand name gambling ops in Britain, partner with this turnkey software developer for their online operations too. The announcement of this acquisition was recently made by Playtech, where they made it clear that the company is optimistic about diversifying their business profile. The aim of the game appears to be to open up an independent poker school – but not just any online poker school – the largest independent one in the world.
They are looking into including community licensees, as well as "cementing existing relationships". It is their belief that incremental opportunities will be created for both PTTS marketing and software development. In other words they believe the new acquisition to be a sound move to enhance their earnings.

PokerStrategy.com, together with affiliates, own assets worth something like €18.5 million, while profits before taxes are somewhere around the €19.5 million mark in 2012. As we said earlier online poker earnings have been dropping, but not only for Playtech partners, for many other internet poker firms. So, this indeed could just be the right thing to do to create more revenue generating synergies.

Playtech has also announced that they are of the opinion that no re-branding exercised needs to take place. So, PokerStrategy.com will remain as it is, as well as preserve its independence in the online market place. Interestingly enough their management team will also remain the same. Having PokerStrategy on-board will allow for more breaks for Playtech to rethink, and adjust their poker business.

PokerStrategy is expected to assist in upgrading the Playtech poker software, and we believe this is not before time. While Playtech continues to work with their existing partners, they will be able to add new poker rooms to choose from – this is relevant to the iPoker Network which is one of the largest networks of its kind in the world.