JusSumguy
Chipmonger
Silver Level
According to PokerScout, online poker cash game traffic is down a staggering 38% worldwide since Black Friday, the second anniversary of which occurred on Monday. Of the 61 online poker sites and networks PokerScout currently tracks, the average seven-day real money ring game player count this week was 54,433. Year-over-year, online poker cash game traffic is off 9%.
PokerStars has been the busiest online poker room in the world since late 2006 right after PartyPoker fled the U.S. market following the passage of the Unlawful Internet gambling Enforcement Act. As of Tuesday, pokerstars held the top spot in PokerScout's cash game rankings with a seven-day running average of 22,200 players, or a 40% market share. The second largest network belonged to iPoker, which sported a seven-day running average of 3,000 cash game players, or a much smaller 5% market share.
PokerStars actually has three sites in the top eight on PokerScout: its dot-com flagship room (#1 worldwide), PokerStars.it (#5 worldwide), and PokerStars.es (#8 worldwide). It also owns the second spot in the play money player counts at 22,000, about half of the traffic of the leader in that market, Zynga.
On the week, cash game traffic is down 0.2%, which PokerScout attributed to "seasonal weakness." The site added, "This marked the sixth consecutive weekly decline. Among the top 10 sites and networks, advancers and decliners were evenly split at 5-5."
Eleven individuals were indicted on Black Friday in 2011 on charges that included money laundering, violating the UIGEA, and bank fraud. The actions by the U.S. Government sent the three largest U.S.-facing rooms at the time – PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker – out of the market. PokerStars was the lone survivor in its pre-Black Friday state, as Full Tilt was sold and Absolute Poker is undergoing liquidation.
American Full Tilt, Absolute Poker, and UB players have not yet been reunited with their funds, although the Garden City Group has been named the Claims Administrator for the former and established a claims website. When players will be repaid remains to be seen.
Copyright: Pocket fixes
Author: Dan Cypra
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PokerStars has been the busiest online poker room in the world since late 2006 right after PartyPoker fled the U.S. market following the passage of the Unlawful Internet gambling Enforcement Act. As of Tuesday, pokerstars held the top spot in PokerScout's cash game rankings with a seven-day running average of 22,200 players, or a 40% market share. The second largest network belonged to iPoker, which sported a seven-day running average of 3,000 cash game players, or a much smaller 5% market share.
PokerStars actually has three sites in the top eight on PokerScout: its dot-com flagship room (#1 worldwide), PokerStars.it (#5 worldwide), and PokerStars.es (#8 worldwide). It also owns the second spot in the play money player counts at 22,000, about half of the traffic of the leader in that market, Zynga.
On the week, cash game traffic is down 0.2%, which PokerScout attributed to "seasonal weakness." The site added, "This marked the sixth consecutive weekly decline. Among the top 10 sites and networks, advancers and decliners were evenly split at 5-5."
Eleven individuals were indicted on Black Friday in 2011 on charges that included money laundering, violating the UIGEA, and bank fraud. The actions by the U.S. Government sent the three largest U.S.-facing rooms at the time – PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker – out of the market. PokerStars was the lone survivor in its pre-Black Friday state, as Full Tilt was sold and Absolute Poker is undergoing liquidation.
American Full Tilt, Absolute Poker, and UB players have not yet been reunited with their funds, although the Garden City Group has been named the Claims Administrator for the former and established a claims website. When players will be repaid remains to be seen.
Copyright: Pocket fixes
Author: Dan Cypra
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