Play65

Play65 was the largest and most visible of the Israeli real-money backgammon platforms of the mid-2000s — the company that, more than any other, tried to make backgammon "the next poker". This page records its history neutrally: its scale, its software, its legal battles at home, the allegations that dogged it, and its fade from the scene in the early 2010s. Real-money play is described here as history; the present-day GamesGrid is unaffiliated with Play65 and operates a different model, entirely free of real-money play.

1. Origins and Ownership

Play65 launched in 2004, operated by the Israeli company SkillEmpire — formed in 2004 under the earlier name LogicEmpire. The operation was licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, the Channel Islands regulator used by many gaming firms of the era. Community discussion of the period grouped Play65 with its sister site GammonEmpire as parts of a single software network sometimes referred to as "GammonLogic", reflecting the shared corporate and technical parentage.

The timing was deliberate. The online poker boom was at its height, and a cluster of Israeli companies bet that backgammon — a game with deep roots in Israeli and Mediterranean culture — could support the same real-money model of ring games, tournaments and commission.

2. Software and Reach

Play65's core product was a free downloadable Windows client, localised into 21 languages. From November 2006 a Java client extended the service to Mac, Linux and PDA users, and browser-based play followed later. The multi-platform, multi-language push matched the company's international ambitions.

The company's scale claims were striking. Play65 claimed more than five million registered players, and a 2007 server upgrade was announced as raising capacity to roughly 50,000 concurrent players across Play65 and its associated Play89 brand. As with most operator-reported figures of the period, these numbers come from the company's own publicity and cannot be independently verified, but even discounted they indicate a service far larger than the dedicated free servers such as FIBS or the invitation community of GridGammon.

3. The Business Model

Real-money games and tournaments were the core business; a play-money option existed alongside. In August 2010 the company launched a VIP Club with Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers and redeemable points, which it claimed as a first in online backgammon. Play65 also connected online play to the televised game: it ran online qualifiers for the World Series of Backgammon in 2008, feeding internet players into the era's marquee broadcast events.

4. Legal Battle in Israel

Play65's most consequential fight was at home. In December 2006 the Israeli Attorney General ordered the closure of the site's real-money activity for Israeli users, treating it as illegal gambling. The company contested the characterisation, arguing backgammon's skill element distinguished it from games of chance. In May 2007 the Attorney General withdrew the order, ruling that Play65 was "not a standard gambling web site" and permitting a restricted resumption of service. The episode was widely followed as a test case for the skill-versus-chance status of backgammon — a question that shadowed the entire real-money backgammon industry.

5. Allegations and the RNG Audit

Like every real-money dice site of the period, Play65 faced persistent community allegations — reported here as allegations, not established fact. Threads on rec.games.backgammon carried complaints of rigged dice and of slow withdrawals. The company's response on the dice question was to point to an Ernst & Young audit of its random number generator, conducted in April–May 2006, which offered "reasonable but not absolute assurance" of randomness — the standard cautious phrasing of such engagements. For their part, several expert players publicly argued that complainants' losses were better explained by skill gaps than by dice manipulation; the perception that computer dice are rigged has followed every server since the 1990s, as discussed on our bots and AI page. No allegation against Play65's dice was ever substantiated.

6. Decline and Aftermath

The original Play65 era ended around 2012: Wikipedia records that the site "ceased operation in September 2012", coinciding with the broader collapse of the real-money backgammon boom after 2008. The historical record then becomes murky. The play65.com domain still resolves today, held by DreamWaves Ltd of Cyprus, as a residual site whose news content is frozen around 2011–12. The exact nature of that later takeover is undocumented; what can be said is that the SkillEmpire era — the Play65 of the boom years — was over by roughly 2012. In keeping with this encyclopaedia's policy, we do not link to live real-money or residual gambling-related sites.

Play65's legacy is that of the boom itself: it demonstrated both the commercial ceiling of online backgammon and the fragility of businesses built on real-money dice. Readers interested in the contrasting free-server tradition can consult our history page and the original GamesGrid launch manifesto.

See Also

• GammonEmpire — sister site in the same software network
• PartyGammon — the boom era's other giant
• TrueMoneygames and BG Room — smaller real-money contemporaries
• History of backgammon and GamesGrid

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia, "Play65" — launch, ownership, licensing, legal history and September 2012 cessation.
2. Wikipedia, "World Series of Backgammon" — 2008 online qualifiers.
3. PRLeap press release, 2007 — server upgrade and concurrency claims.
4. rec.games.backgammon threads — contemporary dice and withdrawal allegations, and expert responses.
5. bgonline.org thread, 2011 — community discussion of the GammonLogic network and Play65's later state.

Frequently asked questions about Play65

What was Play65?

An Israeli-operated real-money online backgammon platform launched in 2004 by SkillEmpire (formerly LogicEmpire), licensed in Alderney, offering cash games and tournaments in a downloadable client available in 21 languages.

Were Play65's dice rigged?

Rigged-dice complaints circulated on rec.games.backgammon, but they remained unsubstantiated allegations. The company cited an Ernst & Young RNG audit (April–May 2006) giving "reasonable but not absolute assurance" of randomness, and expert players publicly attributed complainants' losses to skill differences.

When did Play65 close?

Wikipedia records that Play65 ceased operation in September 2012, ending the original SkillEmpire era. The domain later resolved under DreamWaves Ltd (Cyprus) as a residual site; the exact nature of that takeover is not documented.

Is Play65 connected to GamesGrid?

No. GamesGrid is unaffiliated with Play65 and, unlike it, has never offered real-money play.