The big news story of the week was the collapse of the Groupe Bernard Tapie-Full Tilt Poker deal, which coincided with rumors that PokerStars has been in discussions to purchase their former rival. According to various outlets a deal is very close to being finalized and announced. Read about this story and more in this week's Industry Update. Full Tilt Poker GBT Deal Falls Through; PokerStars Next in Line?: There were dramatic developements from the ongoing Full Tilt Poker sale discussions this week. On Tuesday long time suitor GBT announced that their deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker had fallen through. Luckily for those hoping for a deal, rumors began to leak earlier in the morning that PokerStars had agreed to purchase Full Tilt Poker for $750, which includes a settlement with the DOJ and repayment of all players. Those reports turned out to be a bit premature as PokerStars would only comment that settlement discussions were in progress and confidential. Multiple outlets "confirmed" that a deal should be signed within days. Optimism for a deal is at an all time high but many will not be comforted until an official announcement is released. DiamondFlush Poker released a great article on why the GBT deal fell through. As a result of the GBT deal falling through, the Alderney License hearing was canceled. Everest Poker Could Lead In Massachusetts : In last week's edition of the Weekly Industry Update, we informed you that Massachusetts was considering regulated online poker. This week Everest Poker released a press release stating that they were well positioned to be the first to offer online poker games if/when internet poker was brought to the state. The press release noted that Everest Poker is the only European-facing poker room with an office in the state. According to CEO Tim Den, "The proposed bill rewards responsible European online poker operators and encourages local technology companies and, fortunately for us, Everest Poker is exactly both of those things. The bill presents Massachusetts with a great opportunity to be a pioneer in legalizing Internet poker in the U.S., and there’s no question that Everest Poker is better positioned than any other operator to take advantage of that opportunity." PokerScout Traffic Update: Online poker traffic continued its spring slide, down for 10 out of the last 11 weeks and 2.7% last week alone, according to PokerScout. The iPoker Network has bucked the trend with a 2% increase since late March, while PokerStars has lost 10% of their traffic and Party Poker is down 16%. Jottings: Twoplustwo Down, Passwords "Considered Compromised"...Only Poker Merges with Colt Poker...PKR Unveils Sneak Peek of new software...California tribes come out against bill unless amended...Las Vegas Sands CEO still against internet gambling...Spain regulated market likely delayed...Shuffle Master on a roll...States, Congress Clash on Online Gambling
Update 5/8- Geo-Targeting has launched. For full information on this feature, please see our updated post. With regulation and ring fencing becoming more rampant in the online poker industry, it is increasingly necessarily to target your offers, content and site towards the specific users that are visiting your sites. As a user of your site, who wants to wade through dozens of offers that aren't relevant to them? PAS's solution -- Geo-targeting! PAS's Geo-targeting system recognizes the IP of your vistors and displays only the offers that are relevant to them. With geo-targeting implemented, your U.S. members will no longer see unnecessary European offers like Party Poker or Titan Poker. Your German players will have more relevant rooms at the top of their offer list. You can show your PartyPoker.fr offer just to French players! Upon launch, geo-targeting will come in two basic forms: enabled or disabled offers and offer order -- both customized by country. Each room will be customized and managed by PAS based on our hours of research and testing for the correct and most optimal placement. This new feature will automatically be available for all new and existing default publishers. If you don’t use default content, instructions will be posted shortly on how you can take use the feature as well. We're extremely excited for this new feature and its future possibilities. Stay tuned to PAS for more info coming soon!
It looks as though another Cake Poker Network site has merged with Colt Poker, a US facing poker room that also makes their home on the Cake Poker Network. On Tuesday night, Only Poker players received an email message that Only Poker "is no longer offering their services." Account information, balances and player rewards were transferred over on April 25th at 08:00 GMT, according to the email. Players have received special instructions based on the status of their account. Colt Poker has been a magnet lately for other Cake Poker skins unloading their players. Last month we reported that Power Poker had banned U.S. players and moved them to Colt Poker. Only Poker was most famous for having former NBA "Bad Boy" Dennis Rodman as a representative. Despite aggressive marketing, the online poker site never seemed to be able to find their niche on the Cake Poker network. Onlypoker.com is currently not accessible. According to the email, former Only Poker players signing up for Colt Poker are eligible for 110% up to $600 sign-up bonus, a 100% up to $500 casino bonus and the Loyalty Levels Rewards Program, all standard promotions available on the Cake Poker Network. Update 4/27: Unbomber Poker has also been absorbed by Colt Poker. Players who go to UnabomberPoker.com are currently greeted with the same message Only Poker players received two days ago. Thanks to reader "notsocool" for the heads-up.
If you are like me, Tuesday's roller coaster ride of Full Tilt Poker developments had you glued to social media and your favorite poker forums, craving the latest bit of new information. The day's events reminded me of the countless eventful online poker days I have witnessed/experienced over my 10 years as an online poker industry observer. I thought I would share my most memorable dramatic online poker events of the last decade or so. #1: Black Friday- April 15th, 2011: The "Do you remember where you were?" moment of online poker's history. I was at my computer working at my remote office when I received a Skype message from a friend/colleague that simply read "F**K!". And, yeah, that pretty much summed how most U.S. players felt that day, I think. Only weeks earlier, deals were being announced with respectable major American companies (Wynn with PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker with Stations Casinos) that indicated that online poker was finally heading towards the legitimization that it deserved in the U.S.. But all hopes were dashed that fateful morning as we were greeted with that now familiar "SEIZED" image. One year later, Black Friday has continued to live up to the day's dramatic events. According to PokerScout, Ninety percent of all U.S. players that were playing on April 14th, 2011 are still not playing online. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been either non accessible (Full Tilt Poker) or likely lost forever (Cereus). The effect on poker player's lives and bankrolls have been far reaching. #2: The UIGEA Passage- September 30th, 2006: The UIGEA originally passed the House of Representatives in the summer of 2006 by a wide margin of 317-93 when much of the online poker industry wasn't paying much attention, certainly not like today. I remember around this time the PPA was formed, but I also recall the industry feeling pretty good it would not get passed by the Senate that year. TradeSports (now Intrade) had the likelihood of UIGEA passing the Senate at 5%-15% for the entire week leading up the deadline of the fall session before Congress went home to campaign for the 2006 election. Then a spike in the prediction market came in the last day or two, as word started to leak that it had been attached to the Safe Port Act. This was another event that I remember where I was, unfortunately. On my couch, sick to my stomach, clinging to false hope that somehow the reports were not true or that it would somehow get voted down. As I watched CSPAN that Friday night looking at the nearly empty Senate floor, I soon realized that it wasn't even getting a proper vote -- most of the members of Congress had already left for the session. I learned a lot about politics that night/week, and I think everyone learned who the Senate Majority leader was (Bill Frist). As it turned out, UIGEA was a huge deal but not like everyone expected. Most companies that were publicly traded left the U.S. market before President Bush officially signed the bill two weeks later. The companies that stayed in the U.S. market -- including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker and a handful of others -- enjoyed their greatest success yet. For five years, online poker was as big as ever, leaving many to question the judgement of the sites that left. After many delays -- including a Barney Frank-led delay of six months -- the UIGEA went into full effect on June 1st, 2010. #3- Full Tilt Poker License Suspension- June 29th, 2011: Full Tilt Poker was hit hard by Black Friday, but they were a unique case. Cereus, the smallest network seized on Black Friday, experienced a dramatic and fast collapse with their large U.S. presence (over 75% loss in traffic after 3 weeks) while PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were hanging in there with initial loses in traffic around 30%. PokerStars paid U.S. players within a few weeks, easing any concerns about liquidity. Full Tilt Poker, on the other hand, gradually began losing confidence as progress stalled for retrieval of U.S. player funds, slow cashouts from rest-of-the-world players and as news came out of Phil Ivey's suing Full Tilt Poker. This all led up to the dramatic events of June 29th when the Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended the licenses of Full Tilt Poker and immediately shut down the games. Rumors originally circulated that they could reopen in another jurisdiction, but those were quickly dashed as it became apparent Alderney had not taken these steps lightly and Full Tilt would be completely insolvent soon anyway. By this point, I remember being surprised by the gravity of the news (the second largest online poker room shut down so easily) but given the rumors and developments of the previous weeks, it was not a huge shock. Of course, its also been a huge scar on the industry. For the last 10 months, U.S. and ROW players have had hundreds of millions of dollars in funds held up while Full Tilt Poker has sought a suitor for their company/brand/software. Their best hope now lies with the world's largest poker site, PokerStars, who has reportedly been in discussions with the DOJ to purchase Full Tilt Poker. #4- Neteller Arrests- January 15th, 2007 In the months after the UIGEA a new normal was beginning to develop for U.S. players. PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were well on their way to becoming the top 2 poker rooms (they already were #2 and #4 in traffic, respectively, before the UIGEA) and players realized they still had sufficient options to continue to enjoy the game they loved. Plus they still had Neteller, our beloved e-wallet (the PokerStars of ewallets). That all changed on January 15th of 2007, when G911 reported that Neteller founders had been arrested in the United States. At the time, it felt as big as UIGEA because it seemed EVERYONE had a Neteller account that had to play on various poker rooms. If you felt UIGEA lacked teeth (note: Neteller investigations were well underway before UIGEA passed), this made it a bit more real for players. It was significant in that it was the first major news to come out since the initial UIGEA fallout. Players were frantically trading money with international members at around $0.90 on the dollar. We didn't really know what to expect with the fate of our funds. For those that waited, Neteller paid everyone their full balances some six months later. Even though U.S. players enjoyed four more years of online poker after the Neteller arrests, payment processors -- especially ewallets -- would come under increased pressure. Epassporte would leave the U.S. market in April of 2008 and eWalletxpress would have funds seized in late 2010, resulting in their demise. Payment processing continues to be under extreme pressure for U.S. players. Some sites process in a few days while others are taking 3-4 months. #5- GBT Sale Falls Through/PokerStars Rumored Buyer- April 24th, 2012 This news is obviously fresh, but I believe that based on Tuesday's events and hysteria, it will go down in history as one of online poker's most dramatic and eventful days, certainly if the deal comes to fruition (and there is no reason to believe it wont, besides the fact industry observers have seen so many episodes of ups and downs over the last 10 months). My reaction upon reading this news this morning, tweeted by a known insider, was an out loud "What The F**k?" followed by a few hours of F5ing 2+2 threads. This news has all the makings of the classic online poker dramabombs higher on the list. Despite a laborious process that seemed analogous to the Energizer Bunny commercials, real progress seemed to be occurring over the last few weeks. An Alderney license hearing was slated for May 3rd making a pre-June launch appear more and more likely. The industry was then hit with a 180 degree turn -- PokerStars had purchased Full Tilt Poker and the GBT deal had fallen through. Of course, we know now the only official news of the day was that the GBT deal was no more. Unlike the other entries in this list, this event is quite positive (again, assuming the PokerStars deal goes through) leading to euphoria among many players. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if the PokerStars news was purposely leaked first to ease the fears of players hearing the GBT deal had fallen through. The tone of the day would have been much different, that is for sure. Honorable Mention: Chris Moneymaker Wins 2003 WSOP - May 23, 2003 : The date widely cited as the start of the huge poker boom of the 2000's. Of course, many wouldn't hear of Chris Moneymaker's win until weeks later when it was broadcast on ESPN. The win by a self-proclaimed amateur -- with THE perfect poker name -- would combine with the introduction of televised hole cards on the WPT broadcasts and heavy advertising by online poker rooms to set off the greatest poker boom the world would ever know. It was the quintessential perfect storm. Millions of players such as myself would begin to experience the incredible joy of playing an amazingly fun game where you could actually win money consistently by learning some basic skills. Our lives would never be the same again. That entire year was simply nuts for anyone who was apart of it and probably deserves a spot higher on the list, especially because much of what happened afterwards was a result of online poker's popularity. This wasn't a single day of euphoria though; the whole damn year was crazy. Harry Reid Bill 2010 - December 3rd, 2010: Five months before Black Friday, Harry Reid attempted to pass a U.S. federal bill through the lame duck Congress session. December 3rd is the day chatter about the bill ...
Update: PokerStars has addressed the rumors about the purchase of Full Tilt Poker. Says discussions are confidential and they can not comment further. After months of negotiations, Groupe Bernard Tapie has released a statement saying that their deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker has fallen through, citing two major issues: agreement with the DOJ on a plan to repay players and U.S. legal complications surrounding the deal. But not all hope is lost for players hoping to be repaid or for a relaunched Full Tilt Poker. The GBT news of this morning coincided with credible reports that PokerStars may have agreed to purchase Full Tilt Poker for a sum of $750 million. The amount reportedly includes settlement with the Department of Justice and a refunding of all players their full balance, believed to be over $300 million. In a surprising twist when announcing the GBT news, iGaming France confirmed via Twitter that "external sabotage" may have been in play with the GBT/DOJ negotiations. The comment suggests that developments related to PokerStars may have played a role in the GBT talks breaking apart in the final hour. The GBT statement also addressed the PokerStars' rumors (which at this point, are just rumors, albeit quite credible). "We can only assume that PokerStars determined that it was willing to accept these legal and financial risks in order to resolve its own legal situation with DOJ. If a PokerStars acquisition of FTP means that all FTP players will be fully repaid immediately, we are very happy for the players." GBT went on to say that it would be regrettable for additional consolidation in an industry already dominated by a single player. PokerStars is, of course, the largest online poker site by a fairly wide margin, equivalent in size to the next 15 largest sites combined. If the deal turns out to be true, there is little doubt PokerStars' purchase of Full Tilt Poker would further cement their position in the marketplace and would increase PokerStars' already high favorably rating with players. The move would allow them to maintain their market share and even increase it if a PokerStars-owned Full Tilt Poker platform were to coexist with PokerStars. While it is true that many PokerStars players also play on Full Tilt Poker, many European players on networks such as Party Poker and iPoker moved there after Black Friday and then the subsequent collapse of Full Tilt. Even without U.S. traffic, Full Tilt Poker was the second largest online poker site in the world before their license was revoked by Alderney last year. This is a developing story with additional information likely in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned to PAS for the latest info, breakdown and analysis.
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