Adding new features, keeping content updated and providing on overall face-lift can often be crucial to maintaining the ongoing interest of consumers, issues KamaGames had in mind when the firm set out to give Pokerist one of the biggest updates it has ever received.

Which, considering the game is updated more or less every other week is no mean feat.

Among the V27 introductions is a revamp of its scratch card feature to add more mechanics, such as various categories, top winners and increased chances for coming out on top, as well as a new subscription model and all-new Alice in Wonderland slot. 

Furthermore, the launch of a new casino guide has been designed specifically with new players in mind, while users will also be able to bet their virtual chips on esports games too including Counter Strike, DOTA 2, StarCraft 2, League of Legends and Overwatch.

Most pleasing for the firm though is the announcement of a completely new feature, social sports betting, allowing players to use their chips on real-life sport events and a variety of bet types.

Andrey Kuznetsov, KamaGames CEO, has been speaking to CasinoBeats in some detail about the plethora of updates and the benefits they will bring for consumers worldwide.

“We are positive we can give them the best social sports betting experience possible”

CasinoBeats: Why should users be excited about this latest update?

Andrey Kuznetsov: We have no doubt that this update will appeal to the majority of our players thanks to the sheer volume of exciting new features we’ve included. Firstly, we’ve greatly improved our lottery section. Our players have always enjoyed this feature and now that we’ve significantly upgraded the quality of the prizes they can potentially win, we predict a strong increase in our success metrics. 

Our unique slots games have a great following amongst our players with all of the games released so far being warmly received, and we expect this latest slot to be no different. 

Our latest offering is based around the world of Alice in Wonderland and is titled Wonderful Tales. Boasting some unique and engaging game mechanics, accompanied by the usual top quality graphics players have come to expect, we are positive this will be a fast favourite among our slots fans.  

The KamaGames casino guide is a particularly interesting new feature which will ensure not only new players but also existing ones get the most out of Pokerist. Specifically, players can win lucrative in-game bonuses by making their way through specific tasks, which could range from winning a particular game or even just with a specific hand. Having a number of high-quality titles is already part of KamaGames’ resounding success, and this feature further highlights the variety contained within our social casino app.

While our sports betting feature was soft launched earlier this year, we have now completely updated and refined this innovative new section of Pokerist. Thanks to the extensive feedback we received from our players during the soft launch phase that saw over 30 million bets placed in six months, we are positive we can give them the best social sports betting experience possible.

“We have an ongoing objective of having the most comprehensive portfolio of social casino and card games”

Notable inclusions in the update are the opportunity to partake in live betting, the inclusion of a more extensive range of leagues and sports and also an increase in the types of bets a player can place. 

Generally speaking, we develop all of our new updates based around player’s feedback and also by analysing how players from all over the world interact with the app. As a result, these updates are typically met with excitement and support however we will of course continue to further improve the game in the future as this is one of the key contributing factors to Pokerist’ s success.

CB: Introducing social sports betting is an interesting new feature, how key do you believe this move, and also that to offer esports too, will become for KamaGames?

AK: We already soft launched a more “modest” version of the social sports betting feature into the Pokerist app this year and from that we managed to compile some interesting data. The data we collected suggested that interaction with the feature was high and players enjoyed the addition to our portfolio which was quite a departure to that of our usual offering. 

This positive response led us to develop social sports betting even further, ensuring that there is a catalogue of sports and leagues to satisfy every sporting fan. 

As an operator, we have an ongoing objective of having the most comprehensive portfolio of social casino and card games, which currently stands at 11 games, and now the full launch of our 12th game, social sports betting will add another engaging and innovative element to Pokerist.

“We were happily surprised by just how popular the esports element of this new feature proved to be”

We have an extensive development roadmap ahead of us for the sports betting feature and the inclusion of esports was an important focus for us. Esports has established itself as a growing presence in the gaming landscape and we strive to be ahead of innovation by incorporating these types of popular trends which will enhance the entertainment value of Pokerist. 

By including esports in social sports betting we are not only thinking about the current interests of our players but also where their interests will lie in five or even ten years’ time and how we can accommodate them.

That said, we were happily surprised by just how popular the esports element of this new feature proved to be among players right now, how well they knew the teams as well as the volume of bets they placed in fact, esports bets are already ahead of the more traditional sports such as volleyball and handball and are growing at a strong pace.

CB: How difficult has the process been, after working on the introduction for such a significant amount of time?

AK: Well, it was definitely hard work. Not least because we’ve included more than 20 different types of sports, catering to the many various countries where our audience is located. In this latest update we also included a number of different types of bets that our players can place.

For example, a player can bet on who they predict will score the next goal, which team will take the next corner, what the final score will be or even how many yellow cards will be given by the end of the match.

“It’s of the utmost importance that we place an emphasis on socialisation opportunities”

Not only was it difficult because we were committed to include such a strong level of variety but we also had to translate everything into 28 different languages to make it accessible to our global audience.

CB: Offering a deep level of social interaction seems to becoming increasingly more important, alongside that of gamification, how crucial are those aspects for yourselves? 

AK: For social casino, it’s of the utmost importance that we place an emphasis on socialisation opportunities for our players. We have an entire host of features that facilitate socialisation, including a chat option at the tables, instant messenger for players, quick phrase templates for ease of communication and animated emoticons. 

Within this latest update we’ve built on this socialisation by including a new invite feature which will allow players to invite their friends into the game and subsequently, they will receive various bonuses based on their friends activity in the Pokerist community.