For the last
two years, poker has been the fastest growing segment of the online gambling
industry. Looking at the number of companies who have entered the igaming
industry in that period will tell you that, and huge profits from the
big online poker room operators underlines the point. Online poker is
also bridging a gap between the gambling and entertainment industry and
providing the game with a welcome image boost.
Online poker
rooms began to emerge in the late 1990s, but the boom really began in
2003, Software suppliers had been producing gambling games in the mid-90s,
but their poker products were single-player stud and draw or video poker.
Research started on multi-player poker in the late-90s, and in 1998, Planet
Poker was launched, the first multi-player poker room. Other poker sites,
such as poker.com quickly followed, but it wasn’t until the launch
of Paradise Poker in 1999 that internet poker started to achieve real
success.
Between September
1999 and April 2002, Paradise Poker made nearly $200m, having dealt around
177 million hands in the process.
In 2001,
the likes of Party Poker, Poker Stars and Ultimate Bet were launched,
and the boom was well underway. Unlike the dot.com boom of the late-90s,
fears that the market would not be able to accommodate or sustain the
emergence of many companies were soon allayed, and these are still among
the most popular online poker rooms today – Party Poker is far and
away the most successful, with a market share of over 50 per cent at the
start of 2005.
The industry
grew an estimated 600 per cent in 2003 and by 150 per cent the year after,
and more than 200 poker sites were launched in the last two years. In
the US, online poker’s worth is estimated at around $2bn, and growing
by as much as 16 per cent a month, and many believe that Europe is still
a relatively untapped market.The rapid increase in poker sites instigated
fears that the player pool may be spread too thinly, but as more traditionally
land-based bookmakers took their brands online, the player base actually
expanded. Liquidity is a key part of the business plan of any self-respecting
online poker room, and operators are teaming up with software suppliers
to make entering the industry affordable – and very profitable.
Poker is
going through a period of resurgence like never before and many believe
that it will now become a permanent part of the industry. Online poker
is definitely here to stay.
