April 2020

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has shuttered casinos and halted nearly all live sporting events worldwide, putting an enormous strain on the gambling industry.

Stock prices are bottoming out across the board, spawning furloughs and layoffs for some of the biggest players. In the case of Penn National, for instance, the shutdowns affect some 26,000 employees.

Meanwhile, US online poker markets are awakening their potential. Traffic is universally up, with operators like PokerStars and WSOP setting new records for cash game traffic and tournament prize pools.

And for now, at least, the 2020 World Series of Poker is still scheduled as planned for late May.

Lastly, perhaps one of the biggest pieces of online poker news in some time: Two months after his surrender in New York, PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg has pled guilty to a federal gambling charge.

While our coverage occasionally reaches into nearly every corner of online gaming, Online Poker Report has a few primary focus areas.

Regulated U.S. Online Poker

The bulk of our coverage is focused on the markets for regulated, legal, online poker in New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, along with other states in the U.S., including New York and Michigan that are considering regulated online poker.

Our coverage spans regulatory updates, legislative developments, market analysis, and day-to-day news that may be of interest not only to those following the markets, but also online poker players who participate in them.

Online Gambling Regulation in America

Along with specific coverage of online poker, we also explore the broader topic of online gambling regulation in the United States, including casino and lottery games.

Our companion site – LegalSportsReport.com – is where you’ll find our coverage of issues related to daily fantasy sports and legal sports betting in the U.S.. We also cover the consumer perspective on NJ online casinos at PlayNJ.com.

The Global Online Poker Market

Recently, we have started to expand our coverage beyond the U.S. into the global market for online poker, including jurisdictions such as the UK’s regulated online poker market. We made this decision as the leading companies involved in one market increasingly started to mirror companies in another, and as the innovations from – and the challenges facing – the international online poker market became increasingly relevant for the American online poker industry as well.