European online poker traffic has soared since the COVID-19 outbreak. The global pandemic has left more than half of the world population under some form of lockdown, and as sad as that is, it has been a massive boon for online poker.
Silver Lining For Online Poker
While the deadly outbreak has caused untold suffering for many families, the lockdown dynamic has seen many people forced to change their routines.
In the case of poker fans, this has led to a recent five-year high for online traffic. Live poker is completely dead for now, and the foreseeable future, so what else to do but get back to the online game.
Fun Fact – It took more than TWO years for online poker cash game traffic to go from 30k to 55k level (July 2006 – Dec 2008)
This was repeated in 2020 but only took around 30 days😮 https://t.co/p2YwNQB7WT pic.twitter.com/KLRc0yyX2j
— Anuj Arora (@anuj2212) April 16, 2020
This all makes sense and is logical now that we can see the results, but nobody really thought that this would happen in such a short space of time.
Descrier recently reported,
“Global interest in online poker had been on a gradual but noticeable decline for the last five years, but the coronavirus pandemic has generated a new peak in visitor numbers for a wide array of online casino operators…”
Doubled in Size
This is no ordinary spike in traffic, world markets have doubled in size. The question is, how long can we maintain this peak in interest.
Tournament guarantees have been smashed by a factor of four recently.
The poker rooms have really stepped up to the plate and ramped up their advertising to keep players coming back and attracting new blood.
Poker Industry Pro hire independent industry monitor GameIntel to keep an accurate track of how many players are grinding at any one time. They reported,
“The dot-com market has seen cash game traffic leap from around 13,000 concurrent cash game seats on March 12 to a high of 25,000 on April 7, based on a seven-day moving average of daily concurrent cash game players,”
This is just the dot-com market, ring-fenced markets such as in Italy have seen incredible increases. Italy has been under the most stringent lockdown for weeks and normally sees 2,500 players on their PokerStars server. This has now jumped up to 5,000.
Where Is All the Action?
You might be asking where you can go to get involved in all this action. The choices are endless, with all the sites doing all they can with massive guarantees available.
Last Sunday saw partypoker running no less than three tournaments with seven-figure guarantees. This is out of this world.
WTF just under €3M prizepool for @Irish_PokerOpen Main Event €1K buy-in €1M GTE. Great job JP/Paul + Team promoting this at such short notice + @partypoker @partypokerlive for moving fast to facilitate this being possible 😮 KTF Rob pic.twitter.com/LSjq98mvGV
— Rob Yong (@rob_yong_) April 11, 2020
They are also running three online tournament series concurrently, something else that we have never seen before. Powerfest, Poker Masters Online, and partypoker MILLIONS.
WSOP Circuit Event will be running online at GG Network in May!
The GG Network is another online poker network poker that is smashing it right now. Last Sunday the GGMasters and GGSeries combined to guarantee over $3 million in giveaways via cash and tournament tickets.
WSOP Circuit Event will be running online at GG Network in May!
The WSOP Super Circuit Online Series will consist of hundreds of tournaments including 18 Championship Events.
It is the first time ever that a World Series of Poker tournament series will take place online!
These kind of figures are unprecedented and just what the poker world needs to see right now. With it looking increasingly likely that the 2020 World Series of Poker will be shelved this kind of news is the best antidote we have.
Check out all the latest poker news to keep abreast with developments in the community.
Earn up to 60% partypoker rakeback when signing up through us!
When signing up through VIP-Grinders.com on partypoker, you can now earn up to 60% cashback on partypoker plus take part in the following exclusive VIP-Grinders Promotions with massive extra value:
- $30 Welcome Bonus in SPINS Tickets
- Up to 60% Cashback via the Diamond Elite Club
- 4 x $250 Private Poker Freeroll per month
- Exclusive Party & Bwin Chase
- Where to play online poker for real money?
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org.
