EGR Need to know: Fight and the Power
Champagne corks were flying at Bwin this week after we confirmed the Austrian bookmaker is number one in the Power 50 ranking of the industry's leading operators. But while toasts were raised in Austria, in the US and elsewhere some readers were left scratching their heads.The reason? The absence of Full Tilt and PokerStars...
CHAMPAGNE CORKS were flying at Bwin this week after we confirmed the Austrian bookmaker is number one in the Power 50 ranking of the industry’s leading operators, beating rivals including PartyGaming, Betfair and Bet365 to the top slot.
But while toasts were raised in Austria, in the US and elsewhere some readers were left scratching their heads.
The reason? Well as Jonas Huttel, a journalist at Denmark’s Ekrstra Bladet newspaper wrote on the story’s comment board, “how come PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are not on the list when a company like PKR is?”
Yes, the vexed question of whether or not to include the two sites in the Power 50 was by no means an easy one, but we decided against. And our decision was made due to one simple factor: the two sites take US bets.
eGaming Review believes that this excludes Full Tilt and PokerStars from the Power 50 for two reasons. First, while offering bets on America’s enormous black market in egaming does wonders for the two sites’ liquidity (and bottom line), we believe that even at their very most protectionist, the regulators of any future legal US egaming market will look unfavourably on applications for licences from operators that ignored the regulation of preceding years.
This means that while Tilt and Stars might be rolling in cash in the short term, their longer term prospects are less good if “ or in our view, when “ a legal US market is created. PartyGaming’s $105m settlement with US regulators was overpriced or a steal, depending on your point of view, but leaves the company with a better chance of operating legally in the US than Full Tilt or Poker Stars can hope for.
But that’s just our view. The second, more important reason we have excluded the two operators is the distorting effect that US players have on their liquidity. The Power 50 is a comparison of the world’s top operators competing on a level playing field “ in taking US bets when all other major operators have pulled out, Full Tilt and PokerStars just don’t play on that field.
Of course, you’re welcome to disagree with us” plenty of other people already have. ‘Anonymous’ on Wednesday questioned why “Party, Bwin and others” were accepted in the list when they “accept customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and other countries where governments say it’s illegal?”
Another anonymous reader argued that “it bears repeating that UIGEA itself does not make any gambling activity illegal”, while Yood wrote that he “can’t help but feel that this is something personal against PokerStars and FullTilt.”
We’ll be answering those questions and suspicions in full in the October edition of eGaming Review. But in the meantime, we’d love to hear your views “ feel free to join the debate below the story.
Also this week: the Power 50 main feature; turned tides for Stan James in the Oddschecker September top 10; new four-year deal between Paddy Power and Inspired and PayPal is back in egaming “ bigtime.