Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2015 Edition

64 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory Poker POKER INDUSTRY OVERVIEW The online poker sector has always been event driven. Sunday tournaments like the PokerStars Sunday Million, which guarantees a $1 million prize pool, and tournament series like the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), Mini FTOPS and World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) have defined the industry. Online poker sites also use brick-and-mortar events as potential prizes. Most poker sites give players the opportunity to win seats and expense money for World Series of Poker tournaments, European Poker Tour tournaments and other tournament series. This event driven approach keeps players engaged in the game – they’re always looking forward to the next event. It also helps build player liquidity. And in an environment where building liquidity is difficult, events – both online and in “real life” – are critical tools that operators, affiliate programs and affiliates cannot ignore. In Europe, three major jurisdictions have “ring-fenced” their players. Players in France can only play other players in France. Players in Italy can only play other players in Italy. Players in Spain can only play other players in Spain. In the US, ring-fencing is occurring at the state level. Players in Nevada can currently only play other players in Nevada. Players in New Jersey can only play other players in New Jersey. And players in Delaware can only play other players in Delaware. Nevada and Delaware have reached an agreement to pool player liquidity, but they haven’t implemented it yet. (Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware are the only three states that have regulated iGaming as of 1/1/2015.)