Many people in the poker affiliate industry are confused and undecided about what to do now that the DOJ has shut down Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, Absolute and Ultimate Bet to US players. Black Friday, as it has become known to poker fans around the world, will with no doubt have a huge effect on poker affiliates who rely on players who reside in the United States. Poker Stars and Full Tilt have attributed a large percentage of income to poker affiliates around the world, but especially the affiliates who are targeting the US market. In wake of Black Friday, many poker affiliates are worried that they will not be able to survive in the current market without the big three poker rooms to advertise on their sites and blogs.
I have seen reports of many affiliates that are leaving the business altogether and putting their poker sites and blogs up for sale at discounted prices. This is a personal decision and I can understand if people in the industry are deciding to get out now. It may not be a bad idea, considering the current outlook for online poker players living in the US. Without Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet the options for playing online if you are from the US are not very intriguing at the moment.
Currently there are still poker rooms online which continue to take new signups from players who are from the United States. But, they all pale in comparison to the action and huge prize pools which Poker Stars had to offer before being forced to leave the US market. In addition, I have heard reports of online players who are reluctant to make a deposit at a new poker room because they are worried about the safety of their funds on these sites. In particular the issue is with payment processors who have been targeted by the DOJ in the recent crackdown. Some players feel they may have to deal with withdrawal issues down the road. Will I be able to get my money from these poker rooms in the near future? Will this poker site be the next victim of an online poker crackdown by the DOJ? These are just a few of the questions that online players from the US are asking themselves in the current online atmosphere.
One thing is for sure, the closure of Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Absolute and Ultimate Bet have had a drastic effect on how affiliates have been marketing online poker. Check out any of the major poker news reporting sites or poker authority sites and you will see that they are not pushing Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet like they were before April 15th. Many of these sites do not have any advertising of the big three on their front pages and have moved to marketing sites which continue to accept new US players. These affiliates have clearly changed their marketing to capitalize on sites which players from the US can still play.
Many of these poker sites have relied on Poker Stars and Full Tilt in particular for a large amount of their income from online poker affiliate commissions. Now that they can not market to US players, they have decided to stop advertising these sites so aggresively. But are they doing the right thing? Are they missing out on traffic and conversions from players who are from international markets?
It seems that time will tell if these affiliates are moving in the right direction or not. For now, many sites will continue to promote brands like Cake Poker, Lock Poker, Carbon Poker and others which continue to take deposits from players in the US.
The question is will these millions of US players from Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet seek out alternatives for playing poker online? Will the DOJ seize another online poker domain if they remain in the US market and become big like Poker Stars?
Feel free to leave a comment as we would like to hear any of your thoughts regarding this situation.
