According to a recent survey, half of all British poker players don’t trust online poker websites.
 
However the survey was carried out by mobile software company Probability, who commissioned the research in the run up to the launch of its head-to-head mobile poker product.
 
As the online gaming sector is an obvious competitor to this remote gambling business many in the industry have ignored the results of the survey.

However if they are accurate then the online gaming industry in the UK have a number of serious issues to address.
 
When asked how much they trusted online poker sites, just 12.5 percent of the surveyed were prepared to say: “I trust them, they provide a good service”. That compared with 36.9 percent who said they “mostly trusted them”, with one or two doubts. However, 19.4 percent said they mistrusted poker sites and had “a lot of doubts” about them and a staggering 31 percent of respondents said they did not trust them “at all”.

The most common reason for this lack of trust was; not believing the randomness of the cards dealt online, which was said by 33 percent of respondents, while 32.3 percent said they were worried about the safety of their funds and bank details. 21.3 percent, said they were concerned about regulation and 13 percent said they were unhappy with the protection they had against “poker bots”.

The customer service offered by online operators was considered average at 51.8 percent according to those questioned, the majority of whom believed that most poker sites used “house players”, even if the poker sites claimed they didn’t.

Charles Cohen, chief executive of Probability, said: “We don’t have any axe to grind on this issue. In fact, the reverse is true - a healthy poker industry is good for us because the more people who are comfortable with playing remote poker the more business there is for us to shoot for.”

“Some 50 per cent of players surveyed by the Great British Poker Survey said they did not trust the online poker sites. A third said they did not trust them at all. Those figures are striking and came as a surprise even to us. There is clearly an issue here that the industry needs to address.”

The Great British Poker Survey was conducted by market research specialist 72Point among more than 2,500 players.

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