The Online Poker Explosion
Online poker (read about Online Poker @ Wiki) is a game that is enjoyed by millions of people around the world. In the past few years alone, there has been a total explosion in the amount of people playing online poker- and, as follows, by the amount of money the online poker industry is now worth. In fact, according to the BBC News, the online poker industry total value has more than tripled in size, to close to $1.5 billion, over the past two years.
Why is online poker gaining popularity faster than almost any other industry in the world? The popularity of online poker has been fueled by several factors. For one thing, for the first time ever, poker games are widely televised on network television. That means that millions of people worldwide were able to witness winnings in the millions by totally unknown players in the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tournament.
Plus, the large number of movie and music celebrities that have spoken publicly about playing online poker, and even gone so far as to endorse online poker websites has also fueled the fire. Other experts say that online poker is more popular than ever before because, increasingly, people trust goods and services that they can buy on the internet. People across the world are embracing e- commerce; there is not the widespread reluctance to give one’s credit card, address, or other personal data over the internet that reigned supreme even, say, five short years ago. The new generation of online poker players, of course, will be even more comfortable with using the internet to play games and buy goods and services than the generation before them, which is why online poker industry analysts predict even more runaway growth.
Online poker has risen in popularity at an popularity rate, even when compared to the booming online casino industry. There are several reasons for this, one of them being that poker is seen, more than other casino games, as a game with a great deal of sex appeal. This is due in part to the large amount of poker movies on the market. The movie Rounders, for example, features Matt Damon as a poker player who simply can’t tear himself away from the game, despite his attempt to start a “respectable” life. With stars like Matt Damon promoting the game, no wonder people think online poker is really sexy and cool!
Increased participation by women is another characteristic of the recent internet poker explosion. Women, particularly those in the United States and Great Britain, are playing more poker than ever before, both online and off- line.
Governments Move to Legalize Internet Poker Industry
The online poker explosion has also been contributed to by the fact that governments across the world, realizing that they do not have the power to stop the online poker craze, have decided to legalize and regulate the game. Great Britain, for example, recently passed a comprehensive series of Gambling Laws that regulated the online poker industry, in addition to the sports betting industry, the online casino industry in general, and the brick and mortar casino industry.
Now, the British people are taking to the internet in droves to play on online poker sites! In fact, according to a survey conducted by a British consulting service, the overwhelming majority of United Kingdom residents- seventy- sex percent, have said that they have played poker on the internet at least once in their lives. Other countries have either already liberalized their legal codes with respect to online poker, or are considering the action.
It is only the United States, it seems, that remains a lone hold- out among governments, committed to fighting the online poker industry, and other online gaming venues, tooth and nail, even though many Americans actually say that they do play online poker and other games and would like to be able to do so legally. In spite of this fact, there have been repeated attempts in the US Senate and House of Representatives to outlaw all kinds of gambling on the internet, including online poker. The most recent attempt to do so is a bill that was introduced by Senator Goodlatte, a Republican. This Senator, who worked on the bill with the well- known anti- online gambling crusader Senator Jon Kyle of Arizona, is attempted to outlaw online poker and other games by prohibiting credit card companies, banks, and another other financial institutions that are based in the United States from doing business that relates to online gambling.
Many say that these attacks on the online poker industry are somewhat shady and hypocritical, since many of the financial backers of the gambling websites are those that are most entrenched in the political system, including banks such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and those belonging to Citigroup.
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