With Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and the CEREUS Network out of the equation, other online poker sites that have not yet been targeted by the government have been given huge opportunities to move into a huge, abandoned, market. The biggest beneficiary: Lock Poker. It’s difficult to quantify how much this network has grown over the course of the past few weeks, but one spokesperson for TOPS-Poker was confident enough to say that Lock Poker is now the “largest, most comprehensive online poker room in the world”.
More Traffic, More profits
As mentioned, the numbers haven’t really been completely determined yet but rumors say that Lock Poker has actually gotten a massive amount of new sign ups these past few weeks after the Black Friday incident. As mentioned, the Big Three left a huge market hanging when they were kicked out of the US. However, they’ve been the only ones punished with legal action – so far, that is. The rest of the poker sites continue to operate, though the possibility that the Justice Department might target them next is very huge. Some sites have opted out of the US market voluntarily, choosing to forgo the profits in order to escape the ire of the US government. But the thick-skinned sites have taken the whole issue as an “opportunity”. Lock Poker is one of the latter, and now it’s reaping the benefits big time. They’ve already gained enough sign ups to push them to the very top, and they have only captured 20% of the abandoned market so far. That means there’s still 80% out there that they can try to entice.
On Protectionist Policies
Of course, there are some people out there who are simply laughing at the bitter irony that this whole incident has presented. It’s quite obvious that the online poker lockdown was a move made out of protectionist policies towards the land-based casinos. It’s undeniable that these institutions will see an increase in their own profits as a result of the Black Friday incident, but ultimately, it’s sites like Lock Poker that’s reaping most of the benefits. It’s like the online poker industry is saying “Hey, the joke’s on you!” to the land-based casinos because of these recent developments. Then again, who knows how the government will retaliate this time. To be honest, the best thing to do right now is to wait and see.
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