Online Poker Traffic Rebounds

The online poker industry received a shot of good news as poker traffic was up again last week, suggesting that a recovery may well be underway. Although the gain was only 1.3 percent, the news was especially satisfying, with the World Series of Poker still on-going and the card rooms looking toward the traditional late summer increase in player activity.

The impact of the newly opened French market became evident this week, with both PokerStars.fr and EverestPoker.fr both cracking the top 15 in their first week, while bwin.fr and PartyPoker.fr came in at 18^th and 22^nd, respectively. In just three weeks the French poker rooms are already accounting for almost 4 percent of the worldwide poker community, an amazing feat in such a short period of time.

With the French sites moving into the top 25, the list has seen several changes. The top six sites remained unchanged, with Microgaming and IPN once again trading places in seventh and eighth. PokerStars.fr grabbed the ninth position, moving everyone else down to accommodate it. Cake Poker leveled off a bit after a long decline to hold on to twelfth place, but Bodog Poker tumbled to 20^th, only recently being as high as 15^th.

The strong upturn comes at the perfect time for online poker, as the industry has been in a gradual decline for most of this year. The recent upswing is in spite of the on-going WSOP, suggesting that sustained growth may be returning. With the back-to-school increase in poker traffic and events like PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker coming up, things are starting to look promising for the industry once again.