Man, this whole rake thing reminds me alot of the government!!! JERKS! Anyone want to start a site without a rake? Seriously. You think the money we'd make from the advertising would be enough, and the players would love us because there would be no rake!
At first glance, it sounds like 'no rake' would be a good idea. But then consider - just from an operating standpoint, what is the cost of an online computer system, connecting worldwide, 24/7/365 with as many as 250,000 players simultaneously logged into your server. This would crash even some of the world's largest websites.
This past weekend, Pokerstars gave away $300,000 in cash and tourney packages to just ONE TABLE, ONE HAND.
Yes, rake totals are astronomical, but so are some of the giveaways, promotions, deposit bonuses, etc, that they do all the time.
Goes with the old saying - 'you gotta pay to play'.