Online poker started gaining momentum 25 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 a global gross gaming yield of $4.99 billion in 2010, that figure fell to $3.61 billion in 2015. Poker Industry Overview 51 Sponsored by Visit iGamingPocketDirectory.com for more information. POKER
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