By TheNuts - Mar 30, 2020
Player Counts & Prize Pools Surge
As more and more people around the globe heed the advice, and in some places the mandate, of healthcare and government officials to social distance and/or simply ’stay home’, the online poker industry is seeing an unprecedented resurgence not seen since Chris Moneymaker’s “zero to hero” win during the 2003 World Series of Poker.
According to several poker traffic monitoring sites, traffic is way up. For example, PokerStars set a record of 93,016 entries in their “Sunday Millions” weekly event. Also, recent WSOP Super Circuit event prize pools have been 2 to 3 times greater than their GTD prize pools. To further illustrate this, Italy, one of several countries with a shelter in place order due to COVID-19, is setting record highs in online gaming attendance.
These days, many online gaming sites offer
poker, casino and
sports betting. With the global sports world for the most part on hiatus, some in the industry felt that overall traffic and revenue would drop. But that does not appear to be the case. In fact, the opposite is happening. Many people who find themselves at home for long periods of time are looking for any and all forms of entertainment to fill their day. The casual online poker player is now playing more hands per session and more sessions per week plus many people who stopped playing years ago because ’life got in the way’ have come back to the tables en masse. Additionally, brick and mortar players now have no place to play except online as most casinos in North America and Europe have shuttered their doors for the foreseeable future.
Life will surely get back to ‘normal’ soon, but until then online gaming, for many, is providing a much needed break and distraction from the realities of today.