According to reports from eGaming Review, the USA is still the largest online poker market despite US legislative restrictions.
Poker Players Research (PPR) a leading poker market research company as found that there are still over 10million real money US online poker players, despite the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) which was passed in 2006.
The findings show that there are more than five times the amount of US players than legal UK players, who have the second highest market share consisting of 1.9 million people. Germany comes in third with a market share of 1.6million, before France in ‘fourth place’ with 1.3 million players. Even mature market, Scandinavia has 1.4 million real money players.
Half of America’s market share is taken by PokerStars and Full Tilt as they have continued to operate in the US despite the legislative battles. This decision seems to be at the expense of operators such as PartyGaming who left the country after settling with the authorities in April for $105m.
However, PartyGaming took a calculated risk by paying off the authorities as it may mean that they can re-enter the market if the American market becomes regulated. Although, 888 doesn’t look like it’s moving towards a settlement with the US Department of Justice.