Global Poker Sees 255% Rise During Pandemic, Knup Bros Doing Well Too

Written by :

Mary Montgomery

Published on :

8 April, 2020

Global Poker Sees 255% Rise During Pandemic, Knup Bros Doing Well Too

There is one sector that is not negatively impacted by the coronavirus......online casinos. In particular Global Poker, a US-facing social gaming site, revealed a dramatic increase in traffic since the pandemic lead to shutdowns nationwide in mid-March.

US-facing online social poker room Global Poker revealed a 43% increase in the use of online poker sites in the United States since social distancing and lockdowns took effect, including a 255% increase in first-time poker players. Global Poker said that, prior to lockdown, around 40 million Americans, or 6.8% of the total adult population, enjoyed poker either live, online or with friends on a regular basis.

Morton- and Orlando, Fla.-based Knup Solutions, a gambling content provider for online betting websites worldwide experienced big financial losses when the pandemic shut down most everything, including nearly every sporting event.....for weeks, maybe even months.

“We lost about 60% when sports first went down,” said Rodney Knuppel, the company’s chief marketing officer and director of content. “But we’ve moved into the Esports, poker and casino realms (writing about products and events occurring within those businesses) to stay afloat. We’re actually pretty busy now and have made it up (financially) as a company. As a business, we want to grow. So if there is a (betting) need for these other things, we hope they continue when sports come back.”

The business model of Knup Solutions is to employ a team of part-time writers (currently 35-40) to supply articles about sports and sports betting to several dozen websites that offer legalized gambling services. The company, which consists of three full-time employees — the Knuppel brothers, Rodney and Ryan, and an editor — isn’t in the business of facilitating bets for people.

“Those gambling sites need content,” Rodney Knuppel said. “That’s what we provide them seven days a week. There is no other business that does what we do. And there are literally hundreds of sites that want this content.

“We do a huge chunk of (game/event) previews with a betting angle. But we’re not insiders. We’re not going to interview the coaches. We just put all the information together and then maybe put our suggested pick at the bottom if they want that. But we don’t sell picks.”

- Mary Montgomery, Gambling911.com