Tournament business model for online backgammon

26.07.2005

Earlier this year there were reports of new online backgammon sites launching, using the tournament marketing model that has worked so well for Internet poker properties. This week Curacao-licensed True Money Games.com entered the fray with some impressive claims.

The company said that online backgammon could be the next big thing to follow internet poker, with growing numbers of online gamblers now playing the game.

Pierre Egger of True Money, which sponsored the Backgammon World Championships held earlier this month in Monte Carlo says, "Backgammon is now a popular alternative to online poker. Since 2004 we have seen the number of registrations on our backgammon server double to almost 40,000, and there are more than 500,000 people now playing online backgammon globally."

On Monday this week, Dennis Carlston (USA) won the 2005 Backgammon World Championships taking home over US$ 100 000. Total prize money for the tournament amounted to more than US$ 320 000, and the pot is expected to rise sharply in 2006 as interest in the game escalates.

In a landmark first, the final match between Carlston and John O'Hagan (USA), was watched live on True Money Games.com by backgammon fans around the world.

The match was automatically analysed in real-time by Snowie, the world's most respected Backgammon software-based Artificial Intelligence, developed by Snowie Group.

Originating in Mesopotamia in Persian times, backgammon is one of the world's oldest and best known games, and in many parts of the world it is significantly more popular than poker. Backgammon has been played on the internet since 1993.