Boss Media, a software development company, was founded in 1996. Its first interactive casino, Gold Club, was launched in 1997 and became an instant success. Its initial aim was to operate Gold Club Casino, but soon after the online casino version was launched, the company received many requests from companies interested in purchasing Boss Media's software, apparently unrivalled for its tasteful game graphics astonishingly realistic casino ambience.
Boss Media's corporate focus since shifted to the creation of customised e-gaming systems for several of the world's largest gaming corporations like St Minver Ltd who operate the VIP Poker Club amongst many others. Their solutions are tailored to the unique needs of each client and based on innovative casino, poker, bingo and lottery applications for multiple digital distribution channels. Boss Media sold its own Internet casino in February 2004 to focus entirely on perfecting the e-gaming solutions it develops for clients.
One of those developments has been the release of its new flash based poker game which can be seen on sites like Yahoo Poker. The flash version does not require download, and thus has opened up the door to attract many casual poker players, who were perhaps turned off previously by the thought of downloading unknown software to their PC.
The web based product will allow people to play in shorter bursts, perhaps during their lunch break or for a quick evening session.
Most companies do not allow their staff to download software or play games at work on company time and on company PCs. However, because there is no requirement for download with the new flash web-based poker, companies will have to move swiftly to block poker site URLs, in order to prevent its staff playing the new web based poker software during spare moments online at work.
Flash based poker games have been around for a while but Boss Media’s release will allow poker players to log directly into its network via one of the many white label solutions provided by networks such as St Minver Ltd. This provides immediate player liquidity for brands such as Yahoo and VIP Poker to tap directly into the network and offers players larger tournaments and greater variation of payment methods. At any given moment in the day, there are over 1000 people on playing online on the St Minver network and its network has become one of the largest in Europe.
Yahoo Poker, has already seen great response to its poker release and it has yet to undergo hard launch. The software, behind web based poker is also very easy to implement and manage, so we could yet be witnessing another poker revolution as operators can reduce their costs by launching a web based poker game as opposed to a download version?
Only time will tell if Boss Media’s new software will cause a stir amongst online poker players. However, one thing is for sure, poker and the technology driving the games has not slowed down and neither has the number of sites being launched and players signing up each month. MSN reported recently that over 2 million people play poker online each month. Although that figure has taken a hit recently with the prohibition order in American preventing online gambling transactions, the numbers are thought to be much the same as the focus for poker sites shifts to Europe.
Perhaps now the focus will also shift towards web based poker, as users are becoming more internet savvy and increasing their need for a quick online fix. Certainly web based poker allows operators like Yahoo the opportunity to offer a poker game that fits into the busy daily routines of many internet users.
