Internet Poker Traffic Flash
Posted on 21/02/2010 in General News
On Wednesday 3 February both Mastercard and Visa ceasing accepting Internet gaming transactions from United States registered credit cards. H2 can report that there has yet to be any material impact on the number of players on the leading Internet poker sites that continue to accept players.
The extent to which this group of sites depends on United States players differs significantly. For instance the weighting of players on PokerStars during January although greater than the non-United States sites during the 00:00 to 09:00 GMT was not as squewed toward this period as FullTilt’s player activity was suggesting more reliance on the United States market in the case of the later.
Average Weighting of Player Volume (Percentage of Peak) – January 2010 (GMT)
Source: H2 Gambling Capital, February 2010
Previous crackdowns have been in the form of seizures, which have created panic and led to withdrawals. It is our view that his move by Mastercard and Visa will make it more difficult for United States players to deposit money but not have an impact on confidence.
Therefore, any impact may take a little while to materialise as players run down their current deposits. However, we do note that PokerStar’s 40th billionth hand promotion, which culminated as that milestone was reached at 17:43 GMT on Friday 19 February, might have diluted the impact thus far. On 20 February the volume of real money play accounted for by US facing sites was 66.5% of the market having been 67.5 on 2 February and 67.0% over the course of January.
Experience has demonstrated that as soon as methods of payments cease for United States players others soon materialise. In any case within a week of the of the creditcard providers’ announcement PokerStars confirmed that it did not re-code ’7995’ payments (betting/casino gambling) as other forms of e-commerce to circumvent the restrictions that had already been in place for United States customers and stressed that there were plenty of other payment methods that remain available to United States based players.
H2 wait to see if there are any more significant moves to make the operation of offshore eGaming sites more difficult as we moved toward the latest deadline for the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act on 1 June this year.
Average Weighting of Player Volume (Percentage of Peak) –
1-20 February 2010 (GMT)
Source: H2 Gambling Capital, February 2010
We remain of the view that it makes little sense to enforce this law until there is a legal alternative as there will always be some operators willing to fill any void in what is a very lucrative market.
Daily Average Ring Game Player Volumes –
YTD at 20 February 2010
Source: H2 Gambling Capital, February 2010
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About H2
H2 Gambling Capital is the leading supplier of data and market intelligence regarding the global gambling industry. Regarded, as the ’Industry Standard’ for eGaming – H2 is by far the most quoted source of data in analysts’ notes/company reports.
Over the past decade H2’s team has supplied data to or worked with over 500 organisations including, operators, suppliers, regulators, professional services companies, governments, lotteries, lobby groups and trade associations.
H2’s data has been quoted in much of the media including, the BBC, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the New Yorker, CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters and Time Magazine. H2 is eGaming Review’s official data partner and a partner firm of Gerson Lehrman Group.