Four years ago I penned a 3-part series about the “State of
Poker.” Because I cross-post to
Facebook, one of the articles popped up as a “memory” and I shared it over the
weekend, saying
“Consider Zynga and PokerStars, and ask yourself this -
of those two, which one has made themselves look more like the other one?
Yeah...so I was right four years ago.”
Well, partially right.
The rationale for such a series was that we were starting to
see the first state-sanctioned Internet poker rooms approved for Delaware, New
Jersey and Nevada. It had been almost
two years since “Black Friday,” and the initial wave of states moving forward
with regulated online poker was seen by some, including me, as the “first step”
in revitalizing what was a phenomenon of the digital felt.
The three parts – The Future (of Online Poker) Looks (1)
Great, (2) Scary, and (3) Predictable described the scene as of four years
ago. No one could be absolutely sure
what to expect – whereas in the Golden Age (seven years prior) PokerStars and
Full Tilt has tens of thousands of players around the world at thousands of
tables at every stakes imaginable, the three states no doubt would start much
smaller. They all had their handicaps,
including the fact that every new online casino/poker room had to tie in with
an existing casino in NV and NJ, a fact I decried at the time (what online
casino needs 200 hotel rooms, anyway?).
But like all decisions political, it all came down to emoheneewhy –
MONEY – and states took the richest (for them) path. At the time, anyway. Besides, we in the poker community thought
thusly – as more states jump online, the poker boom will return, post-haste.
And then there was Sheldon.
Seeing the return of online competition, Uncle Moneybags and
his Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling was launched, with the intent of
stopping and reversing the meager progress i-poker had made. We’ve seen no reversal, but as for progress?
We still have three states online. That’s all.
Sure, others have written bills and passed bills through one
side of their legislatures or the other, but as of now, no other state has what
NV, NJ, and DE has. We might see
Pennsylvania, or New York, or Michigan, or maybe one of the dark horse states
like Massachusetts (or hell could freeze over and California could pass a
bill). We could also see another sneak
attack in Washington and find that Congress has tacked on Sheldon’s RAWA or
something like it in the middle of the night to a must-pass bill, or AG
Sessions could undermine the DOJ’s 2011 ruling and reverse it, putting online
poker in limbo…or worse.
And let me stop and correct myself. No matter what Congress or Sessions does,
online poker will continue.
Just not the consumer-protected, tax-revenued kind.
Off-shore sites like America’s Cardroom and Full Flush (and
others of their ilk) will continue, as will social sites with cashless (free)
games like Zynga, WSOP, Governor of Poker, Jackpot Poker, etc. And it’s Zynga and other social media games
that I’d like to focus on here. Because
that’s (sadly) the future of online poker.
To a degree.
You see, people want entertainment. Poker can be entertaining when you play for
real money, and many (self included) believe this. The idea that a cash game or tournament was a
click away brought many basement/country club poker players to the electronic
tables to play with (and largely, lose to) the sharks. Black Friday took care of what remaining fish
there were, leaving the sharks and larger fish to fend for themselves in the
back-waters of off-shore sites.
But the fish “survived.”
A few took their “new found skills” to live poker rooms, where they
experienced a new kind of thrill. Most
went to the cash-less games – some to ad-based sites like NLOP, but many
flocked to free games like Zynga, the largest
poker room in the world.
What is it about Zynga that attracts players? It’s certainly not prize money – there isn’t
any. No real prizes, too – just bragging
rights for a variety of “challenges” and “leagues” and other tests of skill
that mimic other online games they offer like Diner Dash and Farmville. And simple entertainment, of course.
That’s the key here – what many players in the “online poker
boom era” sought was simple entertainment.
It was nothing to pop open the browser and spend a few minutes or a few
hours playing poker. With super-micro
buy-ins, one didn’t spend much money, either.
So despite no new states getting on the online poker bandwagon, online
poker continues to…exist. I can’t really
say “flourish” except you should know that Zynga made
$741 MILLION last year, and makes roughly $28,606
PER DAY. And it’s FREE.
Think about that.
Also know that other online freebies like Caesars
Slots and MyVegas
(MGM and Stations Casinos partner) are also making a buttload of money. Overall, “social gambling” sites are an
almost-THREE-BILLION-DOLLAR
business.
From FREE games. You
see that? Certainly PokerStars does.
That’s what I meant when I implied that PokerStars looks
more like Zynga now rather than the other way ‘round. Since my original series four years ago,
PokerStars has re-branded their free-social gaming site as “Jackpot Poker,”
featuring many of the interactive bells and whistles found on Zynga and other
play sites, plus gambling-type options like “Beat the Clock” and “Spin-n-Go.” You can even buy play money from PokerStars,
too (and you can now do it from the original application).
So is THIS the
future of gambling? While states
struggle to regulate online poker and other options like lotteries and casino
games, millions of Americans spend their time (and money) at social gaming
sites, as well as playing other games online like “Words with Friends” and, of
course, all the eSports games in all of their genres.
We in the poker advocacy world can’t see why states don’t
jump on the bandwagon. Legislators worry
about their revenues, and not wanting to have ANYTHING to do with taxes (like
raising them), consider online gaming as a viable option. And yet, after four years, there’s been no
state to jump on that bandwagon.
That’s because it’s not about revenue. Which is why we play for free – well, most of
us do. Who the hell buys chips,
anyway? OK, you know the answer to that.
So is social gaming the future? Partly, but it’s not the catalyst that will
bring American gaming into the 21st Century (and I have no idea what
will bring Congress and State government leaders into this century, as their
continued “gambling is evil” attitude gowns old with me).
The future of online gambling is elsewhere. Look at England. Look at the top left-corner of your
PokerStars app. That’s a clue, and I
will expand on this in Part Two.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.