Global Online Poker Traffic Down 2% Last Week

According to the latest PokerScout figures, global online poker traffic fell by 2% last week , with cash table traffic worldwide for the same period in 2013 enjoying 10% more players than at present.
Online poker giant PokerStars continues to lead the industry, as it has done since the UIGEA was enacted in 2006 and Party Poker took the decision to leave the US market. The rest of the top five line up as follows; 888poker, iPoker, Full Tilt, and PartyPoker, with just 200 cash players separating each of the different poker sites and poker networks. Furthermore, PartyPoker made its return to the top five after having pushed PokerStars.it down into sixth.
Other changes to the top ten ranked poker sites includes Bodog moving up one spot to eighth, at the expense of Winamax which subsequently moved down into ninth. Also rising a position in the rankings was Microgaming’s MPN, which nudged into the top ten, whilst forcing PokerStars.fr out into 11th place.
Meanwhile, the Merge Gaming Network, currently in 25th place with a seven-day average of 350 cash game players, reported a 4% decline in traffic last week, as the network began barring US players from using its product in the regulated online markets of New Jersey and Delaware. Since regulation, licenses are now required in order to offer games to residents within those states, and so rather than risk prosecution from authorities, the Merge Gaming Network has decided to withdraw its skins from these states, as it did in Nevada after that state legalized internet poker. Merge Gaming Network skins no longer available to these players include Carbon Poker, Sportsbook, GR88.com, and Aced.com. As one TwoPlusTwo member called  MR_UNOWEN, noted recently:
“I just emailed them [Carbon], though; and I was told I was no longer eligible to play although I did a bit this morning. Yeah, though, it would seem just a matter of cashing out now. I just received an email stating that they initiated a manual withdraw for me which has a processing time of 3 – 8 weeks. Gg, Carbon!”
Turning our attention to the three regulated US states, New Jersey generated $8.4 million in online gambling revenue for the last six weeks of 2013, while Delaware could only manage a meager $253,000 over roughly the same period. Meanwhile, Nevada, which currently consists of just WSOP.com and Ultimate Poker, said it would not release any online poker revenue figures until it has at least three sites operational.