Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2015 Edition

66 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory In the US, the most populous states have yet to enter the online poker market. TOP 12 STATES BY POPULATION Rank State Population 1 California 38,802,500 2 Texas 26,956,958 3 Florida 19,893,297 4 New York 19,746,227 5 Illinois 12,880,580 6 Pennsylvania 12,787,209 7 Ohio 11,594,163 8 Georgia 10,097,343 9 North Carolina 9,943,964 10 Michigan 9,909,877 11 New Jersey 8,938,175 12 Virginia 8,326,289 In 2014, we saw for the first time that brick-and-mortar events can increase player liquidity in smaller jurisdictions. In June, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brought a massive influx of poker players into Nevada, which has a full-time population of just 2.79 million people. The influx of visiting poker players helps Nevada’s online poker rooms crack the $1 million mark in revenue. In total, Nevada’s three (at the time) online poker rooms generated $1.037 million in revenue. The three online poker rooms had been averaging nearly $922,000 per month in revenue prior to June. And revenue dropped below the $1 million mark after the WSOP had ended. The WSOP example shows that there’s more than one way to address the shrinking liquidity problems facing the online poker industry. Just as online poker sites have used brick-and-mortar tournaments as inducements and prizes for players, they must now work at getting players at land-based tournaments to come online and play while they’re in town. Yes – it’s a short term bump in liquidity and revenue. But for a struggling sector that has seen declining revenue the past few years, any cash influx is welcome. Poker POKER Industry overview