Friday October 31,2014 : YAHOO! TEXAS HOLD'EM ACTION
Advertising strategy indicates an affinity with fantasy sports bettors.
The online search giant Yahoo! has seized the initiative and launched a Texas Hold’em portal on its website, according to a report in the business publication Forbes.
Yahoo marketers are currently advertising the Texas Hold’em poker game directly on the company's fantasy football webpage, suggesting that it expects to see the same association with that sport as has been the case with sports betting generally and poker players in the past.
In order to comply with US laws, at present the new product does not pay any prizes to the winners beyond free chips to use for more gaming.
But, as a writer on the Yahoo site notes, the new Yahoo Texas Hold’em portal could be easily monetised if the overall legal environment were to become more positive, ensuring that the company is strongly positioned and establishing its presence with poker players and fantasy sports fans alike.
Yahoo has already built a strong following through monetising its fantasy football and fantasy basketball games, and an important element in that monetisation is its ability to sell targeted advertising on its websites to interested third parties.