Now that 2010 is about to be put into the record books, I figured it was time to take a look at the top online poker news stories of 2010 that most affected online poker affiliates.

Harry Reid Introduces Poker Bill During Lame Duck Session

My number one story of the year is unique in that nothing substantive happened – at least that we can measure now. Still, it represented online poker’s best chance yet of being regulated in the United States. The bill, if passed, would have been a game-changer for affiliates. With so many details up in the air, some affiliates are left wondering if that would have been a good or a bad thing, though. Momentum for regulation could swing into 2011, leaving an outside chance of passage sometime in 2011.

New Ring Fenced Markets

France became the latest country to regulate online poker within their borders. Poker rooms from Poker Stars, Winamax, Everest, Ongame and Party represent the top five rooms offering games to French-only players, according to PokerScout. Segregating player pools by country has been seen by many players as a negative of regulation, but France and Italy have each been able to maintain peak traffic of over 1,000 real money cash game players at four or five different rooms. PokerStars.it is even the 6th most popular room in the world, behind longstanding international rooms such as Cereus, Microgaming and Entraction. The ring-fenced markets appear to be where regulation will take us, especially in the short term.

Payment Processors Under Attack

In November, eWalletxpress was the latest major payment processor to effectively be shut down. The US-facing e-wallet allegedly had their funds seized by the US government and players have since been unable to withdraw funds that are located there. In addition, many smaller processors were shut down throughout the year, which resulted in bounced checks or bank transfers that were not received by US players. Poker sites generally still honored withdrawals from these seized processors. Affiliates can expect that their US players will have increased difficulties depositing and withdrawing in 2011.

Online Poker Traffic Shifts

There were some interesting shifts in traffic during 2010. The year represented the first in recent memory where traffic was mostly flat, so sites were thankful to have a small gain during the year. With the exception of Merge Gaming -- which tripled in size due to some network acquisitions -- no other site grew by more than 10%. There were a handful of rooms that got hit hard in 2010, however: Everest (67% loss of traffic), Cake (60%), iPoker (31%), Party Poker (27%), Cereus (26%) and Boss (26%). Reasons for the losses range from views that online poker is now a mature market, to a loss of network sites (Cake) to the migration of players to regulated ring-fenced sites (Everest, iPoker, Party etc.). All of these figures courtesy of PokerScout.

Gambling Bill Goes Through House Financial Services Committee

Until Harry Reid’s attempt at a Hail-Mary in December, this was the top legislative story during 2010, which represented online poker’s biggest victory since the UIGEA was passed into law. HR 2267 passed the House Financial Services Committee in July by a vote of 41-22, an impressive victory from many of the same representatives who four years earlier voted on a more aggressive version of UIGEA. The bill effectively stalled for the rest of the year but represented a moral victory going forward.

Supreme Court of Washington State Upholds Internet Gambling Law

Online gambling is still a felony in the state of Washington. The Washington State Supreme Court upheld a 2006 law making playing online poker in the state a felony. Lee Rousso, a PPA state director for the state of Washington, had sued and argued that the law was unconstitutional due to a violation of the Commerce Clause. The decision resulted in Poker Stars and Full Tilt both leaving the Washington State market within 5 weeks of the decision.