Global Online Poker Suffers Third Week Of Decline
February 7, 2014 12:08 pmFor the third consecutive week online poker has reported a fall in the number of players compared to the previous week, but the good news, however, is that the rate of decline has slowed to just 0.4%
Last week saw little movement in the top ten ranked sites and networks compared to the previous week, with PokerStars still way out in front in top spot, followed by 888poker, iPoker, and Full Tilt Poker. PokerStars.it, however, has now moved up into joint fifth place alongside PartyPoker, and after PokerStars.es in 7th place comes Winamax.fr tied in 8th spot with last week mover Bodog. Finally, MPN has risen back into 10th place at the expense of PokerStars.fr which slipped out of the top ten into 11th spot.
Nevertheless, the global online poker market currently remains 10% lower than at the same time last year, primarily due to the effects of Black Friday when the Department of Justice shut down a thriving online poker industry in the United States. Since then the global market has suffered a significant decline in total liquidity as American players find it increasingly difficult to log in and play online.
Turning our attention to the USA’s biggest regulated online gambling market, New Jersey’s online traffic fell slightly last week as the state hosted Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Consequently, both online poker market leaders Party Borgata Network (-14%) and WSOP.com (-15%) both reported declines in traffic last week compared to the week before. Party Borgata has now seen its share of the online pie reduced from 47% to 41%, while WSOP’s market share has risen from 30% to 34%. Meanwhile, 888’s All American Poker Network has improved from 19% to 23% market share, while Ultimate Poker continues to languish way behind with just a 3% share.