I enjoy playing casino online and do it a few times a week on a number of different sites.
When I come to a new portal to play I always get frustrated by the “Download casino” link. The reason for this is that the link almost every time download a exe-file to my computer. That would have been fine if I hadn’t been using a mac.
Gaming portals need to start customizing the content based on who the visitor (player) is. In this case the download link shouldn’t be presented!
Below you can …

The World Cup starts June 11th and the sports betting operators should be working hard to get their portals in the best shape possible!
There are some that have some work to do to get there. Today I tried to search for bets on 8 different betting portals (Betfair, Betsafe, bwin, NordicBet, PaddyPower, PartyBets, Unibet and William Hill) and the results weren’t that good!
A good search function can be the difference between a placed bet and a lost customer.
I searched “England World Cup 2010″ on all the portals and if I …

Sports betting is very popular and account for a big part of many gaming operators income. But the way people place bets online today is very similar. Is this because it is the optimal way to place bets or is everyone copying each other?
I think improvements can be made since I’ve seen many players having problems placing bets.
Investing in user experience activities will pay off many times the cost and improve loyalty.
I’m starting a study of current sportsbook designs and am looking for examples that work well, but also examples …

I’ve written a number of blog posts regarding folded cards in poker, Show Folded Cards – Great feature implemented differently and Full Tilt improves their Folded Card feature.
Last night when I played on Bet24.com I was surprised not being able to see the folded cards. I looked everywhere but I haven’t been able to see if it is possible to see your folded cards.
So today’s redesign is a simple one adding “Show Folded Cards” functionality to OnGame Network’s poker client.
Today

Image 1. Folded hand on Bet24.com (OnGame’s poker client)
Today your cards disappear when you …

Today most gaming portals offer bingo, casino, games, poker and a sportsbook. Is this the best way? Look at Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and PartyGaming who promote brands for one kind of game.
For instance players go to PokerStars to play poker, but when you go to for instance bwin, Unibet, Ladbrokes and many more gaming portals it is difficult to know what the player want to play.
Almost all gaming portals offering many different games have a start page where they show their different offerings where the player have to make a choice …

Is instant poker as good as the download versions? Not at the moment!
If you compare Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars mac client with an instant version from any of the competitors then you’ll see that Full Tilt and PokerStars is way ahead. It is faster to load, faster to start tables and have more features.
An instant version works well when you are using a computer on which you aren’t allowed to install software.
Many poker rooms today have both a download version and an instant version of their poker client.
You can …

OnGame Network have a new Sit & Go Coinflip, generating 10,000 plays per day.
I had to try it out since I really enjoy playing around with new features.
It is a fun new game which just last about 10 seconds. But it takes longer to register for  a new Coinflip. You have to click three times before being back in the lobby and then another three clicks before you are registered for a new game.
So 6 clicks before you are seated at a new game. This is way too long! This could …

Image 1. bwin’s poker lobby.
bwin makes it easier for their players to quickly sit down and play!
One of the most annoying things when finding a table is that when you see it in the lobby there are seats empty but when you open up the table to sit down the seat is already taken.
bwin has a very cleaver solution to this problem. They offer players the possibility to select a seat right in the lobby making players be seated faster. This means they can start playing sooner. I think this …

Image 1. bwin’s skill games site provided by Jadestone.
Can it be more frustrating than getting an error message saying “Compability problem, you need to have Windows and Internet Explorer or Firefox to play”? (I am using a mac)
Yes it actually can!
And that is when I have logged in to the site, looked around for a while and only get the error message once I try to start a game. That is lousy player experience! It would be much more fair if they earlier would tell me that I can’t play on …

This week’s redesign will be a quick usability test that hopefully will show the benefits of doing usability tests to increase the user experience in your products.
Purpose
Find out areas for improvement when it comes to finding a table to play poker at.
Settings

3 gaming portals: bwin.com, betsson.com and unibet.com (will use their instant poker version)
5 users: All Swedish players.
1 user scenario: “Find and sit down to play at a €1/€2 Texas Hold’em table of your choice”

Result
Redesign of one finding per portal
Please come back early next week to see the results from the …

Image 1. bwin’s bet search function.
I really like bwin’s new bet search function it works really well.
When will we see gaming operators with a “Bet suggest function“?
A Bet suggest function will based on previous player activities suggest and promote bets that are of interest to the player.
An example: I like the Swedish soccer team Helsingborgs IF, and a Bet suggest function could suggest bets with Helsingborgs IF specially on match days.
Another example would be bets based on where I live, for instance if Sweden is playing soccer against Denmark then …

I’m starting a new section on my blog “A redesign in 20 minutes” which on a regular basis redesign something I think can be improved by very little effort.
First up is the lobby in OnGame Network’s poker client where I play on using the Betsafe skin.
So check back on sunday for the redesign!
/Staffan