GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 2 - October 2007

By Jeremy Enke Ever since the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) was signed into law by President George Bush on Friday October 13th, 2006, there has been a common direction for poker affiliates. You can read about this topic in every casino or poker affiliate community. At each industry convention there are usually multiple speaker sessions dedicated to the topic. You guessed it......going global and having your websites translated into tons of different languages. With much of the market share falling off in the U.S., as well as a large majority of online poker and online casinos cutting off U.S. players, this seems like the logical approach. And actually, it is a very smart approach. There are several emerging markets within online gambling that are certainly going to be extremely profitable in the months and years to come. Eastern Europe and Germany, as well as many of the Nordic regions and even Russia, are experiencing the Boom that the U.S. experienced back around 2004-2005 with respect to online poker. So yes, the webmasters who can gain exposure in these countries will definitely be able to grab a piece of the pie. But when I see all the “experts” and various people at conferences speaking so casually about going global and simply having your website translated, I really question their true expertise. I do feel qualified to speak about this as well. Being a member of the board at PokerNews, I have seen some of the challenges of going global and capturing market share in 20+ countries and languages, especially in the online gaming market. It sounds simple to just go to rent-a-coder or a similar type service and pay to have your site translated.....Think again, though: this is actually a bad business decision in my opinion. If you have already done this, do yourself a favor and have a poker player fluent in that language give it a quick read for a second opinion. If you’re going to attempt to get into different countries, do it right and partner with people in those countries who understand the local market and demographic. Below is a list of the 3 biggest challenges for poker and casino affiliates when entering foreign markets: 1. Translation This is the most important and critical aspect of entering a new market. The fundamental problem with “English only” speaking affiliates is that they hire a translator and then there is no way to know if the translation is good. With a bad translation you will actually build a bad reputation for your site in any new market. Keep in mind every language has many various subtleties. What would you think if you went to a U.S. site and read something like this: “The game of Texes Holdam is played by individuls from around the country area. Here at pokeraffiliateworld.com we offer bonus for you best at sites. We can do also rakeback at 35% for sites no U.S.” Laugh Out Loud if you have to, but this is how your site will look if you pay for a cheap translation. This brings me to point number two. Promoting online poker to a global audience GPWA TIMES | Promoting online poker to a global audience Jeremy Enke is the head of Poker Affiliate World, a forum for poker affiliates