Keeping track in online poker

03/10/2009

Online poker players at the Swedish government's gambling monopoly Svenske Spel have been given another optional tool with which to pace their action with the launch of Spelstatus, which shows users how much they have won or lost on total in poker since starting to play the game at the Svenska Spel website.

Mikael Franzén, Business Area Manager at the online poker website says: “There’s one common misconception, particularly among younger players. They overestimate their own skill and think they control the game themselves. A lot of players reckon themselves to be pretty talented – they’ve broken even, or maybe even made a bit of a profit. But now just a single click will show you, in black and white, exactly how much you’ve won or lost.”

The new tool has the support of Thomas Nilsson, Chairman of the Swedish Gaming Institute, who comments: “This kind of information is absolutely vital as it provides players with hard facts. We’ve been wanting to implement this option for a while, and the fact that it’s now up and running is to be applauded,”

Spelstatus will also report the total time which each player spends playing poker on the site. “Spelstatus is yet another tool which we’re providing to help players to keep tabs on how much they play. Showing them profits or losses accumulated and the total time they spend on poker on our site will create transparency and hopefully lead to more people reflecting on how much they play,” says Franzén.

Another new feature is that a reminder on responsible gambling will be displayed in a pop-up window once a month when players log in.

“This information relates mainly to the unique tools we offer for poker and for gambling in general. We want people to have fun when they use our website, and for that they need clear information and functions that make them feel secure when they play,” explained Roger Levy, Head of Sales for Svenska Spel poker.