The EGR Awards is arguably the biggest and most popular awards ceremony in the global gaming industry as more than 800 iGaming operators from around the world usually show up to the awards ceremony which takes place in London, England on a yearly basis.
The awards ceremony follows a nomination and shortlisting process by an expert judging panel who then decide on the winners of a number of different categories. The 2018 EGR Operator awards took place recently at the Grosvenor House and the top stakeholders in the iGaming industry were present.
GVC Holdings Shines On The Night
GVC Holdings which is the parent company of partypoker received top honours as the company received the coveted ‘Operator of the Year’ award and would also go on to receive the prestigious ‘Casino Operator of the Year’ award.
In a statement, GVC Holdings said “It was a transformational year for GVC with both the successful migration of bwin.party and the completion of Ladbrokes Coral acquisition. To complete one merger in this industry is bold, to take on two is truly brave and that GVC have managed to pull it off and emerge with all brands stronger as a result is a truly impressive achievement. And success has been widespread, with all online divisions (Ladbrokes, Coral, Brazil, partypoker) contributing strongly.”
Partypoker Wins Poker Operator of The Year
GVC’s online poker room also came away with top honours after the ‘Poker Operator of the Year’ award was conferred on Partypoker. This was a special feat for Partypoker considering the fact that it was the second consecutive year that the online poker room has bagged this award.
The competition was stiff for partypoker as the Stars Group and Kindred Group were also nominated. However, the judging panel decided to award partypoker the award because of the consistent and continued efforts that the brand had taken to develop player communication channels and incorporate their feedback into their offerings.
Partypoker was once one of the leading online poker websites in the world but after Black Friday lost momentum and a lot of market share. The online poker website went through a massive overhaul in 2016 and promised to once again restablish itself as a premier online poker website and compete with the big guns in PokerStars and 888poker.
Mike Sexton who is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and chairman of partypoker has played an instrumental role in reviving the ‘Partypoker’ brand and helping it win two consecutive EGR Poker Operator of the Year awards.
PartyPoker Changes Paying Dividends
Partypoker took bold decisions under the guidance of Sexton and managing director Tom Walters to change up its VIP program, improve its online poker software and ring in the changes for its live poker tour.
Poker players generally don’t like change and massive changes can often backfire for a poker room, just like it did in the case of PokerStars recent changes. However, partypoker learnt from the mistakes of PokerStars and opened up a smooth flow of communication with its players, got their feedback and then make tweaks to roll out products and services that would be more enriching for its players.
Those changes went down well with partypoker players and gave partypoker the reputation of being the most player friendly poker website in the market. These efforts and player feedback did not go unnoticed as the EGR judging panel pointed out that the overall strategy worked wonders for the brand as it took into consideration understand the needs of its players, improving customer returns, enhancing player interaction and rolling out a better online poker offering.
Partypoker Thrilled With The Results
Partypoker is thrilled with its efforts as the online poker brand has confirmed that its year-on-year revenues has increased by 42 percent. MD Tom Waters was very happy to receive the second consecutive EGR Poker Operator of the Year award and said it was testament to the hard work put in by the partypoker team.
Waters also said that the team at partypoker is continuing to work hard to bring in new initiatives and changes that will continue to boost the partypoker brand and improve customer satisfaction.