Sponsored by 59 Poker Visit iGamingPocketDirectory.com for more information. POKER Industry overview Online poker started gaining momentum over 20 years ago, with the first real-money online cardroom, Planet Poker, going live in 1998. This was the same year that Rounders, a film about high-stakes poker starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, was released. Then Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event victory in Las Vegas from a mere $86 satellite tournament caused a boom of epic proportions and became known in poker circles as the “Moneymaker Effect.” Moneymaker, a previously unknown recreational player who worked as an accountant in Tennessee, beat the field of 839 entrants, up nearly 200 players from 2002, but the craze resulted in a tripling of the field in 2004, up to 2,576 players. By 2006, it reached a record 8,773 players. However, the massive growth was eventually stunted by cheating scandals, fear of bots and general distrust of policing the product, as well as the U.S. market being dealt a near-deadly blow due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. After posting global gross gaming yield of $4.99 billion in 2010, that figure fell to $3.61 billion in 2015. But it seems the game is rebounding, with the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event attracting 8,569 entrants, the second-most in the 50-year history of the event. While in-person poker tournaments display symptoms of improvement, research by the Edison Group shows online poker still represents 5% of the online gambling market. Data released by the EGBA for the European Union echoes that figure. This is behind sports betting, casino games and state-run lotteries. A more detailed look
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