Everyone that has ever had so much as a passing interest in poker knows that this game’s boom period lasted for about three years, from 2003 to 2006. It came on the heels of the movie Rounders attaining cult status and amateur Christopher Bryan Moneymaker winning the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker. Yes, for those not in the loop, that is this player’s actual last name. It is not a moniker or a nickname concocted for branding purposes.
Following the US government passing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, pretty much all online gambling activity within the US borders became illegal. However, the top three poker sites chose to ignore this law and still accept American players. That led to the event referred to as Black Friday when the domains of Full Tilt and PokerStars, the best sites to play poker online at that time, got shut down. In August 2012, a federal judge decided that poker is a game of skill, and this sector got up and running again. However, it could never capture its previously attained heights. That is until 2020.
Last year, due to stay-at-home and social distancing measures, online gambling activity blew up across the board, including poker-wise, leading many to conclude that we may be on the cusp of a new boom period. Virtually all operators noted a rise in player numbers. Nevertheless, many gambling companies feared that once land-based venues got back to business as usual, these impressive figures would return to pre-pandemic levels. Let us do a quick dive below and see if recently released operator figures proved or refuted this hypothesis. The Pandemic-Induced Poker Boost
The ongoing pandemic began to unfold at a global level in March 2020. It was during this time that most governments issued lockdowns. These entailed forcing gambling establishments to shut down along with most hospitality venues. That led to online gambling, despite the connectivity issues of customers , sky-rocketing on account of a lack of entertainment options.
Per research from Global Poker, all US operators noticed a sizeable surge in new player […]
Click here to view original web page at www.gameindustry.com
