Worldwide Online Poker Market Grows 25 Percent

In a recently released report, Poker Scout found that the worldwide online poker market grew 25 percent in the past year.

With players from 118 countries participating in the World Series of Poker, it’s clear that poker is now a world game—not just an American one.

PokerStars Grows 72 Percent

Pokerscout reports that industry leader PokerStars grew an astonishing 72 percent from the same time last year. While they have continued to invest in expanding their global reach, they have also benefited from remaining in the United States after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Party Poker, which was the big kahuna prior to UIGEA, pulled out of the US and Poker Stars grew in their absence. Online poker is unique in that the product and customers are one and the same. The name of the game is liquidity, and regardless of marketing, technology, or anything else, if you don’t have the customer base you won’t attract many players. People want an online site with a variety of games 24/7, and the tendency is for the rich to get richer and the smaller rooms to struggle over crumbs left behind.

Full Tilt Posts 54 Percent Gain

Full Tilt Poker grew 54 percent over the past year. Like Poker Stars, they are growing internationally, but benefited by continuing to serve US-based customers following UIGEA’s passage.

iPoker: We’re Number 3

The iPoker Network is in third place after growing 53 percent over the past year, and they are now ahead of Party Poker.

Cake Poker Posts 89 Percent Gain

Cake Poker grew an amazing 89 percent and is currently the tenth largest network in the world, just behind Ultimate Bet.

The Big Losers: Party Poker, Absolute Poker, Bodog

The big losers were Party Poker and Absolute Poker. Party lost much of their customer base upon their withdrawal from the us market, and plans a (much needed) major revamp of their software in the next few months.

Absolute dropped 29 percent in the past 12 months—a result of the superuser scandal that took place. Once it was proven that certain folks had access to other players’ cards, customer left in droves, haven’t come back, and probably won’t.

Bodog is also going backwards, dropping 28 percent over the past 12 months, probably a function of payout issues that have bedeviled them, along with the fact that sites with high liquidity tend to increase their liquidity, as players flock to the action, leaving the other sites to dry up and blow away.