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THE RETURN OF POKER
SHUFFLE APP AND DEAL Owain Flanders assesses the significance of online poker’s COVID-19 resurgence by taking a look into its recent history
What are the basic ingredients for a great comeback story? First of all, cancel all sports and temporarily halt traditional sports betting to increase traffic to alternative verticals. Then, lock potential customers at home with access to the internet. Finally, top it all off with a wide selection of operators eager to capitalise on such beneficial conditions. Everyone loves a comeback story, and online poker currently seems to be undergoing one of its own - albeit through rather unfortunate circumstances. After locking potential customers at home and cancelling most major sports competitions, the COVID-19 pandemic had suddenly placed online poker operators within the small category of gambling companies able to benefit from an otherwise dire situation. Of course, the story of poker is as old as time itself, but online poker has experienced a different lifespan, one that has seen a considerable shift in popularity over
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the last two decades. For us to understand the significance of its recent unprecedented growth, it’s important to look back at this history of highs and lows. THE MONEYMAKER EFFECT Although the history of real money online poker stems back to 1998, its first real explosion in popularity occurred in the early 2000s with the Moneymaker Effect. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker claimed victory in the main event of the World Series of Poker after winning his entry with a $40 buy-in. Online poker suddenly became a viable skill-based way for amateur players to earn money from home, and Moneymaker’s fortuitous namesake became synonymous with the vertical’s growth in the following years. Although the glory days of online poker were incredibly fruitful, they were also short-lived, something particularly true
for the US. In 2006 President George W. Bush introduced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which saw an end to the majority of US online poker operators. Those who did continue to operate in the US would come to regret it. In 2011, many top online poker operators were seized for processing illegal transactions in direct transgression of the UIGEA, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. In more mature markets in Europe, poker’s popularity continued until around 2010, but as the bigger names took a greater market share and smaller brands died out, the vertical’s growth began to subside. Instead, online poker began to grow in emerging markets such as Asia where it continued to evolve, developing a more social style to suit its new demographic. Speaking on a panel during the SBC Digital Summit at the end of April this year, Ivonne
