We all know the story, an unknown accountant from Tennessee by the name of Chris Moneymaker turns a online poker satellite into .5 million dollars, a new era of poker is born. From that moment on, online poker sites were doing more business than one could imagine. It wasn’t just online sites though, as live poker rooms also got in on the boom.
However, that was nearly a dozen years ago, and my how things have changed. Sure, you’ll see more games than you would say 40 years ago, but the numbers tell a story of an all too soon apex, with an all too sharp decline, and the only thing left is for operators and poker players alike to wonder what exactly rock bottom will be. The online poker experiment in Nevada simply hasn’t worked out.
Tony Alamo, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, said, “For online gamin to work, you need liquidity.” He clarified, “Liquidity means volume, lots of people playing. We do not have the population base to do it just within our state, or one or two smaller states to make it viable.” The once three online poker sites in Nevada are now two, with Ultimate Poker closing up shop last November. Only WSOP.com and Real Gaming currently exist.
The $119,904,000 poker haul from 2014 is also thanks to roughly $10 million in online poker contributions. While the numbers might sound big on the surface, they are not. The number was a 3 percent drop from $123,891,000 of 2013, and each month saw alarming numbers. Last December saw fewer poker tables spreading poker since March of 2005, while September saw the lowest revenue numbers since June 2004. 2014 also saw 79 rooms offer poker, down from 88 in 2013.
According to regulations in the state of Nevada, there have to be three rooms in operation before poker figures would be reported. While there currently are rumors swirling about two new sites, Treasure Island and the All American Poker Network looking to open, neither have come online yet, which leaves all online poker revenue in Nevada open to speculation until then.
With billionaire Sheldon Adelson backing a new bill to ban online gaming nationally, things are looking too good for the future, and leaving Alamo “very pessimistic” as well.
