Online Poker Rooms See Declines: Merge Poker Sees Gains

While much of the online poker sector witnessed a 2.4 percent drop in traffic this week, Merge Gaming has seen a climb of 3 percent in recent days following an erroneous report that the Maryland US Attorneys Office was investigating the company.  Gambling911.com has since confirmed the Maryland US Attorney’s Office is not investigating Merge. 

PokerScout.com reported that, overall, Merge lost approximately 10 percent from its average money play immediately following the blatant lies perpetrated against it.  Merge was also forced to delay its re-entry into the US market as a result of the story, that ultimately had a negative effect on the industry as a whole.  The online gambling sector is recovering from a series of highly publicized indictments carried out against Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars back on April 15.  Co-founders of those two companies were charged with money laundering and bank fraud.  While Stars continues to thrive, Full Tilt has yet to return monies to players. 

More big moves:

•    Everest Poker moved up two notches to 15th, trading places with Svenska Spel which fell to 17th.

•    PartyPoker.fr dropped from 18th out of the top 20, allowing Cake Poker Network to gain a spot and take over 18th.

After a week of exile, International.it rejoined the top 20 in 19th place.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com