Effective from November 6th, Unibet poker will only be available in the following markets: UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Estonia, Malta, Finland, and France (France a separate network).
All customers that have currently got access to the Unibet poker product, and aren’t from any of the above mentioned markets, they’ll be migrated to a new BoaBet brand. On BoaBet, the same poker network/product will be available, but it’ll strictly be through the browser client. There will not be any Windows, OSX/Mac, Android or iPhone app for BoaBet.
The drop in traffic will be noticeable for certain games and stakes, but the games will also become considerably softer, as (1) the winning regulars are almost exclusively playing on the Windows and Mac apps, and (2) it’s predominantly winning markets that are impacted.
In recent years, we’ve closed markets that combined accounted for a double digit rake share, while also facing serious regulatory restrictions in the remaining markets. Still, we’ve managed product growth and 2023 was an amazing year for Unibet poker. Market exits are nothing new, and we’re not throwing in the towel.
What changes can I expect over the coming months?
- Higher rakeback/bonus spend. To mitigate the impact of the market closures, we’re bumping up the promotional spend. You can read more about the coming weeks here, and I suggest to always use the unibetcommunity events page to get a better overview of what’s currently running or waiting on the horizon.
- Easier access to poker from both sports and casino apps. We’re planning to make it much easier to start a game of poker, from within our sports and casino apps.
- Poker added to more brand(s). We will likely see the poker product added to at least one additional brand in early 2025.
- MTT guarantees lowered. There’ll be no way around a lowering of the MTT guarantees. Some target events will already have been adjusted, and the last ones will be updated within days. The qualifier schedule will remain unchanged days/weeks, so there’ll likely be some really good value to be had there.
- We’re removing heads-up sit & go from November 6th. This one has been a long time coming, and on unibetcommunity.com I’ve been transparent about the inevitable removal of the game. It’s the game type that’ll be hit the hardest by the market exits, and even if games would still be running fine at the lower stakes, it’s ultimately a game type which at this stage is more likely to do harm than any good, for the product ecosystem as a whole.
Recap of software release notes of last month – three big changes!
In addition to the above changes, I’d also like to highlight three changes that were already mentioned in the release notes earlier this month:
- €25 HexaPro is set to become a “HexaPro Highroller” stake and thus the rake is decreased from 6.853% to 6%. Expected in approx. 2 weeks.
- 1.5x minimum multiplier replaced by 2x, for €1-€10 HexaPro stakes. We’re aligning more with the rest of the industry, while stile staying somewhat true to the original distribution. You can read more about the changes in this blog post. Expected in approx. 2 weeks.
- Introduction of customizable bet buttons. Even if you didn’t read the release notes, you might have already noticed it in the client, as the change went live two weeks ago. I’ll probably do a separate blog post on this one, to explain why we took this decision.
FAQ for customers moving to BoaBet
- I am not from one of the listed countries (UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Estonia, Malta, Finland, and France), so will I still be able to play poker?
- Yes, if you’ve currently got access to poker, you will also have access after the migration. However, please note that only the web/browser client will be available on BoaBet.
- What will happen to my bonus points, tickets etc.
- All your tickets, bonus points, bonuses etc. will be moved over to your BoaBet account
- Will BoaBet have its own player pool?
- No, BoaBet will become part of the same network as Unibet, so you’ll find all the games that you’re used to.
- Will BoaBet become a permanent part of the Unibet poker network?
- At this stage, I can’t say how long BoaBet will remain a part of the Unibet poker network.