Online poker traffic fell 12%

PokerStars still maintains its dominant position at the top of the global rankings with an average of 23,000 cash players over a seven-day period, whilst the iPoker Network regained second place with 2,500 weekly ring game players, or just over one-tenth of the numbers enjoyed by PokerStars.

Not far behind in third place is Full Tilt Poker alongside 888Poker, both with a seven-day average of 2,300 cash players. Not long ago, Full Tilt had manoeuvred itself into second spot but has since seen its player traffic decrease 14% after its Big Bonus promotion drew to a close this month.

This week also saw the introduction of Internet gambling to New Jersey, which is expected to generate around us$300 million in revenue for Atlantic City casinos, with around us$45 million going towards state tax collections. In total, seven of AC’s 12 casinos launched their online product with a trial offer, including the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa which teamed-up with bwin.party. 

Following the site’s launch, Team partypoker founding father Mike Sexton, said: “In the state where Washington crossed the Delaware and Edison invented the light bulb, the return of online poker and industry pioneer partypoker is a historic day for the proud state of New Jersey. We’ve been waiting a long time for this day and during that time have done all we can to create the best online gaming experience in the world.  We’re excited to be here and are looking forward to bringing fun and excitement to New Jersey for a long time.”

Earlier indications suggest that WSOP is leading the field so far, followed close behind by PartyPoker, then Ultimate Poker, and 888′s All-American Poker Network. However, with less than a full week of data collected, next week’s numbers will be more representative of the true market share.