UK poker in decline? Guess again, Mintel 23/11/2009

Bill Rini, poker affiliate and former room manager for PartyPoker

SITES INCLUDING THIS ONE RECENTLY ran a story that suggested that the UK poker boom might well be finished, with market research company Mintel citing as evidence the poor performance of several poker rooms that have a large UK customer base.  

However, that is not the only possible explanation. Currently, there is a contraction going on in the online poker industry. While the industry continues to grow, the smaller are getting smaller and the bigger are getting bigger. Players are flowing towards the liquidity. 

Proposing that simply because relatively small operators with a large UK customer base are reporting poor numbers signals a decline in the UK market overall is a tad premature. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, the two largest online poker sites, not only continue to grow but were left out of the analysis of the UK poker market, surprisingly.  

That’s a little like interviewing owners of local shops and reaching the conclusion that retail is in decline after failing to consider out-of-town superstores like Walmart or Tesco. It would not be surprising for the local shops to report lower sales as they’re losing business to out of town giants  – this has happened all over the world. But that doesn’t mean that overall spending as whole is down. 

Full Tilt and PokerStars are both private companies, so are under no obligation to report their financial results - or even their market share. Without that information, it is impossible to say whether or not UK players are jumping ship from sites like William Hill and Ladbrokes to mega-sites like Stars and Tilt - but that seems like a far more reasonable assumption than that of the UK market having dried up.  

In analyzing the poker market, much like in a poker game, the real story is usually a couple of layers under the surface. 

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Posted: 23/11/2009