I've done a little inquiring into why I'm still seeing ads and commercials for sites like PartyPoker.net and ParadisePoker.net in the U.S. even though they've shut out American players. I had been prettty certain that the ads I'm seeing are just remnants of contracts that have yet to expire, but I also thought there was a chance that some of the companies might put a value on continuing to have good brand recognition in the U.S. even through the "prohibition."

But it does look as though what we're seeing are indeed the final remnants of contracts, and when the contracts expire these companies will quit advertising in the U.S.

Here's what somebody from PartyGaming told me:

We are going to let our contracted obligations unwind whilst we evaluate our options in the United States. We have already considered several options about what we may be able to do with our free-play sites and our pre 13th October real money customer base in the United States; and we’re not going to give the game away to our competitors by disclosing the details of those options under consideration except to say that they been a pretty major focus of some very smart people in the company for the last few weeks.

...The advertisements that are now running are the remainder of existing deals.

I wrote an article about the situation before I actually got these comments from the PartyGaming spokesperson. Before writing it I was able to talk to Eric Morris, publisher of Bluff Magazine, who also verified for me that the ads for the companies who pulled out of the U.S. market will soon cease. The companies who are staying in the U.S. market intend to continue advertising though. The article is here:

Internet gambling ads abound despite UIGEA