IGT Poker Network Traffic Plunges
Wednesday September 19,2012 : IGT POKER NETWORK TRAFFIC PLUNGES (Update)
US company's decision to pull back on internet poker has an immediate impact
This week's statistics from the independent online poker monitor Pokerscout illustrate how quickly business decisions translate into a modern marketplace, with traffic at IGT Poker network plunging 30 percent in the wake of the US company’s decision to pull back from the sector
Amid reports that member sites and players alike have begun to jump ship, IGT appears to be focusing on social gaming through its recent acquisition DoubleDown Casino until the legal position in the United States has been settled.
Advances by the Microgaming Poker Network over the past two weeks, where traffic soared over 30 percent, also seem to have eased, with Pokerscout reporting that the network slid two spots to end the week at number eight on the Top Ten traffic sites.
Overall, online poker traffic fell 0.5 percent after a month of strong gains. Party Poker leveraged some major promos into a 12 percent boost in traffic in its second double-digit gain running, although the iPoker Network held on to its second placing behind behemoth Pokerstars, shrugging off the dire predictions that its split into two tiers would cause grief with a mere 2 percent fall in action.
Among the US-friendly networks Bovada overtook the Merge network, and Revolution continued to prosper.
Compared with the same period last year, the global online poker market traffic fell 11 percent, with the Top Three sites all showing declines as follows despite the introduction of widespread promotions, tournaments, revised network structures and game innovations:
PokerStars: 8 percent
iPoker Network 31 percent
PartyPoker 30 percent
Internet poker companies that show improvements in traffic since this time last year were led by Revolution Gaming (Cake Poker) which is up 73 percent.
Poker rooms and networks that were not so fortunate include: IGT Poker (Entraction) down on the year by 63 percent; International Poker Network down 46 percent; Everest Poker down 44 percent; PKR down 31 percent; Ongame Network down 21 percent and Merge Gaming Network down 16 percent.
The small Winning Poker Network, formerly Yatahay, continues to flourish, showing traffic up on the year by 200 percent.
