Is The UK to Segregate Online Poker Player Pool
A recent article appearing in eGaming Review suggests that the United Kingdom government may be about to start segregating its online poker player pool as part of new reforms.
Presently, Italy and France both segregate online poker player pools with some success. The Italian variation of PokerStars (.it) is now the 4th largest Internet poker room in the world.
The article in question suggests that Bodog.co.uk will continue to operate in Great Britain using its Antigua-granted license but in three months will switch to its UK-granted license. Bodog will only allow those living in the United Kingdom to access the .co.uk site from that point moving forward.
Readers of the TwoPlusTwo.com posting forum worried about how segregation would affect the player pool on the world’s largest site, PokerStars.
One member of the forum wrote: “If Stars segregate, we are probably talking about a marginally viable player pool for the UK market, making some assumptions about player composition by geography by studying the Stars lobby in conjunction with the player flow numbers on pokerscout.com, to get a feel for numbers of UK players on Stars.
“In my view, no other sites have a viable player pool, with or without geographical segregation.”
Some on the board suggested that Bodog may have knowledge of the UK government’s mindset as it applies to reforms. The UK government warned of more stringent regulations following the abrupt closure of Full Tilt Poker.
Still others pointed to the fact that Bodog already segregates its Asian players and that new regulations in the UK are yet to even be written.
One member of the TwoPlusTwo.com forum had this to offer: “I imagine players with a UK IP address will be redirected from bodog.eu to bodog.co.uk, the casino/sportsbook etc will be under the UKGC jurisdiction. This will ensure they will continue to be able to advertise in the UK.”
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
