Online Poker Traffic Falls Off 2.5 Percent This Week: Could Get Worse

With the troubles at the world’s two largest online poker rooms, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, continuing this week, traffic across the board has dropped 2.5 percent. 

The two card rooms have had trouble paying out customers via popular methods such as eChecks and bank wires as a result of an ongoing investigation by US Federal authorities.   The US Attorney’s office out of Baltimore, Maryland, is heading up the probe, alleging money laundering by payment facilitators used by both companies.  Three individuals named in the case agreed to cooperate with authorities.

While it is difficult to determine what impact the payment processing issues have had on the drop in traffic, Full Tilt Poker did not see a large impact on cash game traffic from its double guarantees week, according to PokerScout.com.

The promotion drew in a large number of tournament players, but the decline in cash game player counts of 3.5 percent was right in line with the other top four sites, PokerScout noted. 

One company that witnessed dramatic growth in the past week was the Yatahay Network.  Their traffic more than doubled with the addition of DoylesRoom.com, which abruptly left the Cake Network on Friday. 

- Ace King, Gambling911.com