Why Poker in US Dollars ?

[Sandy]

Hi All ,

I visited many poker website and most of the websites offer poker in US Dollars whereas at the same time bingo is offered in UK Pounds. Why is it so? The best example for this is william hill bingo.

When i made a Google search i came across the following

"Bingo is very popular in UK but poker is not so popular. US people play poker a lot." --- Is this true ?


Please help me out.

Thank you.

[RBS]

Most of the poker software around is from when players from USA could play anywhere (before 2006), and it also is a "world currency".

So most places still play in US dollars, even though there are no US players anymore at the site.

I remember maybe 1 year ago, Boss media network changed from US dollars to EURO games on the entire software.


I am not sure about the Bingo software, but i think many bingo programs came after 2006, so no need to make the games in US dollars if there were no US players anyway.

[grem]

It is more than just a world currency.

Players like playing and buying with numbers they are used to.

It is not easy to have a tournament buyin for $20 and then when looking at a menu for the UK player they see 12.64 pounds and then next week maybe it is 13.09 pounds.

At some point a poker network must pick a currency and that also determines their player database

[wagerjunction]

I am not sure about the Bingo software, but i think many bingo programs came after 2006, so no need to make the games in US dollars if there were no US players anyway.

Also, bingo is more popular in the UK than anywhere else in the world. Makes sense for Bingo Programs to offer the games in £.

[andreea]

Also, bingo is more popular in the UK than anywhere else in the world. Makes sense for Bingo Programs to offer the games in £.

Agreed, most of the bingo sites are UK based and the main bingo market is women in the UK. Only recently have we seen a move towards Scandinavia, the US, although gambling is still illegal, and a couple of other European countries.

As for poker, the US market is huge obviously, but the illegal aspects have diminished the number of rooms open to the US market. We're hoping to have it open up in the near future, so I don't think the US currency will be changing anytime soon.

Are you having issues with conversions?

[pompeyrayuk]

Im pretty sure you will find that the majority of poker sites offer you the choice of which currency you choose to play with when you initially register.

USD $ - GBP £ - CAD $ - AUSD - Euro etc etc

[RBS]

Im pretty sure you will find that the majority of poker sites offer you the choice of which currency you choose to play with when you initially register.

USD $ - GBP £ - CAD $ - AUSD - Euro etc etc

Well, no. The majority of poker sites offer you the choice of which currency you wish to keep your account balance in.

The majority of poker sites only have USD games.

[Sandy]

Hi All ,
Thanks for all your replies. I was developing a website which include both bingo and poker . This is the reason why I posted this question ....


Thank you once again