Internet Gambling’s Gray Monday may have far more bite than Black Friday

More domain names and gaming operations were seized on Monday May 24th 2011, which we aptly call Gray Monday. This time the market leaders were not the only websites seized but smaller websites also. Even more important is many different sectors in the industry were seized. There were domains seized in online poker, casinos, sports books and even bingo. This may send more of a message through the industry than Black Friday.
The online poker community was hit hard and drastically when the three biggest players in the market had their domain names seized. This sent a shockwave through the industry and millions of poker players were left wondering what happens next. What did happen next was that the three biggest poker rooms soon left the US market and their players were left in limbo. They now had to find a new place to play and their funds were in jeopardy. Although the three poker sites worked out a deal with the Department of Justice to return the players money, no one we have talked to has received any money from them at the time this article was written.

After Black Friday, finally things started to settle down and players found a new poker home and continued to play online. Many thought the Department of Justice had made their point and were going to let things return to normal as much as could be. But with the action on Gray Monday the hammer came down on the industry as a whole. The shock this time is in the form of all sectors of the online gambling market. Homeland Security made the seizures this time and the industry is in disarray. No one seems to be safe whether large or small players in the market. It is just a matter of time to see the reactions to these seizures. Unfortunately, now we may see internet gambling web sites in all sectors start leaving the US market. We have seen some internet sites change their domain names to an international extension as a result of these seizures. They seem to be positioning themselves to be immune from the US government actions by having these domains outside the US.

The sense out there is that no one knows what will happen next and once again the online players may be sent scrambling again. It a watch and see attitude nowadays, but the impact could be far more reaching than Black Friday. As a result, it does not matter how big or small of an gambling operation you are or what sector of internet gambling you’re in, everyone can be touched by the government.

The effects so far are that US poker players have not had to move to different internet sites as of yet, but new sign ups may have to go to a new website address to sign up. Same is true with US casino players, there is no effect yet from Gray Monday other than having a new domain name to register.

The World Series Of Poker Appears Its Thriving, But Look Below The Surface.

The WSOP had yet another record breaking year and remains the industry standard, In 2011, there were a record 75,672 entries when compared to last year's record of 72,966. This year was up 3.7 percent of last year. Also, the prize pool set a record in 2011 with a whooping $191,999,010 dollars compared to last year's previous high of $187,109,850. This was an increase of 2.6 percent. These numbers cause you to think everything is good within the poker world.
By taking a look a little deeper you will see most predictions of the turn out for this years tournament were deeply understated. The fact is they broke records as stated before. So Black Friday did not have the impact some thought it would. Despite thousands of players angry after three of the four sites failed to reimburse them even after the government cleared the way to do so. Many thought players might not be able to afford WSOP buy-ins because of the online poker crackdown. We believe the predictions were a year early. With sponsorship down and fewer fish playing online poker these days the sharks won't make much cash for buy ins. It could just have not been long enough for the losses to kick in.
The tv portion of the tournament has definitely taken a commercial hit. It’s no surprise because the owners of these websites were huge sponsors particularly Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker. If you have been watching the tournament on television you will see their logos are not on the players either. Even the UFC events don't have these sponsors anymore. If ratings are down this year they can lose more sponsors. One good thing is Godaddy has signed on this year becoming a sponsor and possibly that is a good sign.
The bottom line is next year will be the year to worry about. If poker players cant find online poker sites that accept players in the US, then they could lose interest and take up different hobbies. Even if their desire is to play, but there is no place online, they may get frustrated. In either case the lack of US poker Sites is an issue and the fact these players haven't had there funds returned to them is yet another. The environment over the next year can really get bad.
So how will we fix it and keep the greatest tournament on the planet? That will not be an easy one. Here are a couple thoughts. First, if the government is prosecuting the operators of these poker sites criminally, then they should also pursue the funds being returned to the players just as vigorously. The poker players were not breaking any laws and their funds should be returned. Second, there must be a law that legalizes online poker at the very least if not all of gambling. The law makers should not play politics with this situation. It's about time to get past the Indian gaming lobby and help the players. Until we get US poker sites again the game is in trouble and so is the tournament