After the recent shutdown of major online poker websites, it is still unclear what would be the future of this market and who will dominate it
Nearly two weeks ago, when the FBI along with other US government agencies shut down three leading online poker sites, the day was immediately labelled as 'Black Friday'. However, today the whole move does not look as bad as it did then. Still, no one can predict the future of online poker, but certain trends which started straight after the shutdown give many players hope.
First of all, two of the three sites are back online, even though as a result of an agreement with the court that allowed them to do so in order to let the players withdraw funds from their accounts. Full Tilt Poker operates as of today under its original .com name, while trying to access PokerStars.com will automatically take you to PokerStars.eu. The website of Absolute Poker has been down since the 15th of April.
Second, there are enough sites where US poker players are still allowed, which brings up a suggestion that the latest developments are just a shift in the multi-billion market. According to several sources, while the traffic to the banned sites has dropped significantly, the amount of active players on the sites which are still operational is constantly increasing.
All these imply that shutting down the whole huge market is virtually impossible, even though it’s been semi-legal in the last few years. The only really effective solution to the issue would be to properly legalize and license all online gambling activity, including online casino, online sports betting and surely online poker.
