Q&A: Barry Hearn, managing director, Matchroom Sports - May 2006  

This month, Sport and Technology speaks about the growth of the poker industry to
Barry Hearn, managing director of Matchroom Sports, and chairman of Leyton Orient Football Club, which won automatic promotion to UK soccer division League One in May 2006. Hearn’s first encounter with poker was during a trip to Atlantic City in the US around five years ago where he stumbled upon a poker tournament and discovered that the prize pot was derived from the players’ entry fees. Thinking that was a great business model, and enjoying the few rounds he subsequently played that day, Hearn was well and truly hooked. Matchroom is now the biggest supplier of televised poker in the world, producing nearly 300 hours of programming on an annual basis.

You were involved in the launch of Poker Million (in 2000) with Ladbrokes Casinos which was televised on Sky in the UK; what made you think poker would work on television?

“I have always liked the idea of creating events that can also have television coverage and poker seemed an obvious area where, at the time, there was lack of TV exposure. Poker works really well on television. Being able to have cameras under the table makes the viewer feel they are party to a secret and the use of graphics and statistics makes it a good show as well. If you look at that and the explosion of online gambling worldwide, it is easy to see how poker has become such a massive televised sport. Our TV ratings have been great, which makes the sponsors happy as well, so everyone is winning! Poker Million was the first TV event to pay out £1m in prize money; a week before Who Wants to be a Millionaire? did. We then launched Pokermillion.com with Ladbrokes.”

Do you think that the market is in danger of becoming saturated?

“We are certainly approaching the stage where there could be too much poker on television. The problem with that is when the same thing is done over and over again. Therefore, we need to come up with new formats and tournaments to keep things fresh. For example, we are launching a Women’s World Open Championship as we have seen a 900% increase in female participation in the game. We’re also introducing Poker Den Sports Star Challenge – which features sports stars playing each other [with £50 notes rather than chips]. The main thing we must do is avoid too many situations where internet winners come on TV and end up being a bit dull. The TV audiences need the characters and personalities to keep them hooked.”

How have you grown your customer base of broadcasters and sponsors for your poker programming?

“Having excellent events in our portfolio helps – such as Poker Million, the World Open, European Open and UK Open. We’ve been able to syndicate to more and more countries and build up really good international markets. Poker is bundled with our other strong properties – such as darts and snooker and therefore over the last three years, our sales volumes have been hugely different – with broadcasters buying 100 hours of our programming rather than single events. Filing their schedules is our job. Meanwhile, online poker brands such as PartyPoker see televised poker as a great way to maximise exposure for themselves.”

Which markets are showing growth in the poker industry?

“New markets spring up every year, but at the moment there is strong interest from Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and Canada. Poker is emerging in South Africa and we also have interest from Asia. However, due to legislation, most Asian countries cannot show televised poker at the moment. Most of them want to, but they don’t want to end up in prison!”

Where will the industry go next in your opinion?

“While there are still good ratings, poker events will continue to get bigger but will start to consolidate. Smaller operators just won’t be able to compete with the larger ones and will get squeezed. I can see a situation where there will end up being 20 substantial companies in the business and a further 100 or so that will become affiliates. Competition among the major ones will get more intense as they are forced to become increasingly creative and innovative. This may be through new formats and competitions – cruises for example are getting a bit old hat – and through an increase in other revenue generators such as merchandise. Online growth is showing no signs of slowing down and poker remains a very good game to play. You can’t get away from the fact that 20 year-old blokes enjoy playing poker, and that’s a very good demographic to go after.”

For further details on Matchroom Sport, visit www.matchroomsport.com

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