Online poker affiliates were instrumental in the online poker boom last decade. These online marketers entered into referral deals with poker sites. Affiliates received a commission to send players to online poker rooms. It was based on either a percentage of the player’s rake paid or a flat amount when a certain deposit threshold was […]

Players typically lose all funds when a poker site fails. There are some exceptions to this: Player bailouts. There are poker sites and networks that were legitimate and properly capitalized that decided to exit the online poker industry after honoring all player balances. Networks that did this include IGT/Entraction, International Poker Network/Boss Media, Cryptologic, Planet […]

Online poker has struggled in the United States. It is not just the legal landscape. Online poker has opponents in the gaming industry and even within the interactive one. These people want to prevent the regulation of online poker. These are online poker’s worst enemies. Online Poker Enemy #1 – Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Adelson is […]

Online poker is about 20 years old. It started out with zero regulation. Anybody that built a platform could spread online poker. This attracted incompetent operators and some that were outright thieves. Poker Site Failures The first major failure was Pokerspot. It was launched by Dutch Boyd. The site failed in 2001. The collapse was […]

It is no secret that online poker is on the decline. The main reason for this is the lack of U.S. players in the system. Another reason for the decline is that regulation in other countries separate players from the international player pools. These are not the only issues affecting online poker traffic throughout the […]

Online poker regulation started last decade. It started with minor, mostly benign offshore gaming commissions. These groups were often based in small countries with little other industry outside of tourism. Some had no bricks-and-mortar gaming industry. Some governments did not approve of this lax control of gaming that accepted customers from their country and took […]

Black Friday occurred on April 15, 2011.  It changed online poker forever, especially in the United States.  That is because PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet were indicted for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.  This blemished the impeccable reputation of PokerStars.  It also put an end to Full Tilt, Absolute Poker […]

Black Friday occurred on April 15, 2011.  It was the day that indictments were unsealed that charged PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with illegal online gambling.  The prosecuting U.S. Attorney’s Office was in the Southern District of New York.  Preet Bharara led the investigation. PokerStars left the U.S. market immediately after Black Friday […]

I played my first live poker tournament in years this week at Sam’s Town. It was a $40 tournament that drew about 30 people and ended up with 50 buy-ins. First place was $600. The competition was soft, and it got me thinking that maybe smaller poker tournaments may be worth paying the excessive rake. […]

Online Poker and Casino Legalization Passes Pennsylvania Legislature The Pennsylvania Legislature passed a bill this week that would legalize and regulate online poker and casino games. Language in the bill also licenses daily fantasy sports sites and includes the possibility of sports betting should the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act get nullified by the […]

There are hundreds of places to play online poker. Some are real money poker sites where players can win cash. Others are social media sites where players can play for free or spend money for rewards. Others are just outright free with no ability to spend money. There are play money tables at nearly all […]

New Jersey Enters Into Online Poker Interstate Compact New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed an interstate online poker compact with Delaware and Nevada this week. That will permit New Jersey sites to accept players from those states. The platforms could merge player pools between the three states. WSOP.com is the only regulated poker site that […]

After a two-day soft launch, WSOP.com held its official grand opening in Nevada on September 19, 2013. Unlike Delaware and New Jersey, poker sites did not hit the market on the same day in Nevada. At the time of WSOP.com’s launch, Ultimate Poker was approaching its fifth month in operation. The Nevada online poker market […]

New Jersey Online Gaming Posts Another Successful Month New Jersey online poker and casino sites combined to generate $21.3 million in revenues last month. Golden Nugget led the field with $5.2 million. This is impressive since the licensee does not offer online poker. Golden Nugget’s partner is Betfair. Online poker continues to struggle. These games […]

Bovada sent out an email to players in five states today. It stated that accounts with addresses in Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey and New York will be closed on October 2, 2017. These five states were already barred from creating new accounts. This decision was made years ago. Players with existing accounts were permitted […]