MyPokerBasics reports that the PokerStars shutdown will effect far more than online gambling in the near future.
MyPokerBasics released a statement on Friday, April 22nd, 2011 that gave a dire outlook for the future of poker within the United States in general. The Department of Justice shutdown of PokerStars and other notable gaming sites will not only damage the business within the online industry, but the major US tours that occur within traditional brick and mortal casinos will feel lasting effects as well. Kevin Smith, a project director at the MyPokerBasics website, points out that the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour were highly dependent on the major poker websites to cover expenses.
“People simply do not realize that the only way for the WSOP and the WPT to offer these huge multi-million dollar prize pools is through the use of sponsors.” Smith commented in an interview today. “Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars spent hundreds of millions of dollars keeping these tours alive and expanding each year, so everyone from the professional players to fans to the tournament directors must be furious over this outcome. Honestly….everyone loses.”
Smith went on to explain that much of the prize pool available at these featured tournaments came directly from player buy-ins as entry fees. With plenty of sponsorships available from the various online poker rooms, most of that money was able to stay inside the final pot to be passed along to the players. Since over 60% of the entrants in WSOP and WPT events come from online websites, both organizations are expecting a huge drop-off in attendees for the remainder of the year as well.
“It’s truly amazing how much came out of eleven arrests and five seized poker sites,” added Smith, “We’re seeing professional poker players that cleared $200,000 on the tour last year suddenly applying for any job they can find. Some of these guys literally became homeless overnight; and that’s not even counting the tens of thousands of everyday folks in the US who have been playing online poker a profession.”
It is also estimated that the websites PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and Full Tilt poker spent an annual budget of over two hundred million dollars in the United States between player sponsorships, advertising, and tournament funding, and that’s not even considering the various television networks that aired live poker series like “Poker After Dark,” “Million Dollar Challenge,” or “The Big Game.” All of these shows have either been cancelled by the various networks or are on the way out in the upcoming weeks.
For now, MyPokerBasics is seeing many of their readers heading to Sportsbook Poker and similar websites since they are still accepting US customers, but overall online poker in the United States appears to be down by almost 68% when compared to same totals from last week. Even though there are viable options available for players inside the United States immediately when it comes to online poker, Smith doubts that it is enough to save the industry.
“Let’s say that you personally own an offshore casino that offers online poker, would you really consider picking up where PokerStars and Full Tilt left off? They spent hundreds of millions building an industry here in the US and now the Federal Government is going after them for over two billion dollars in penalties. Unless somebody like Harrah’s or MGM steps up, professional poker is in big trouble here at home.”
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