According to the preeminent online poker traffic monitoring site PokerScout.com, player numbers have fallen a sizeable 22% worldwide in the wake of the actions of Black Friday.
Following the indictments of the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker by the U.S. Department of Justice, PokerScout has found that many players have decided to drop out of the online game, perhaps for good. In its analysis, PokerScout looked at the weekend of April 9th to 10th (the last weekend before Black Friday) and compared it to the weekend immediately following the announcement of the indictments as well as Easter weekend.
The overall numbers presented by PokerScout show that the online poker industry has seen a 22% decline in cash game players since the Federal indictments were announced on April 15th. The statistics also show that, along with the loss of U.S. players, those rooms still accepting American action, and even foreign online poker operations that do not accept American players, have not brought in enough traffic to offset the “Big Three’s” losses.
PokerStars, which retained its status as the largest online poker site in the industry, has experienced a 28% drop in cash game players. Immediately following Black Friday, PokerStars’ ring game traffic dropped by approximately 25%, but the site was able to regain some action by Easter weekend and was down only 3%.
Full Tilt Poker felt the losses harder following the announcement of the indictments by the Department of Justice. The April 16th to 17th traffic for Full Tilt Poker was down 49%, but by Easter weekend, the site had been able to rebound. Still, PokerScout reports that overall traffic for Full Tilt Poker is down 35%.
The hardest hit by the effects of Black Friday was the CEREUS Network. While sister sites Absolute Poker and UB.com continued to provide action to the United States for a short time following the indictments, the CEREUS Network plunged 40% the weekend following Black Friday and another 42% over Easter weekend. Overall, PokerScout shows the CEREUS Network having a 65% decline in cash game players over the past two weekends.
While there are online sites that still accept American players, their numbers in no way offset the losses by the “Big Three.” The Merge Gaming Network has been the big winner in this race, increasing its action by 61% over the past two weekends. Bodog and the Cake Poker Network have shown similar increases in player numbers (32% and 30%, respectively), while the Everleaf Network has seen just a 1% boost.
This may sound like good news for American players, but an examination of the actual numbers shows a painful revelation that many online players may be gone for good. According to PokerScout, the “Big Three” have lost 15,831 cash game players combined in the last two weekends, while the sites still facing the U S. have only accounted for a 950-player increase.
Meanwhile, 888 has been the beneficiary of some non-U.S. players potentially leaving the “Big Three,” with its numbers increasing 4%, and PartyPoker is only up 3% over the two-week time span. Two other popular European gaming sites, the iPoker Network and the Ongame Network, have shown declines in cash game players of 2% and 9%, respectively.