UK poker in decline

[JonOfFinsbury]

Hi guys, some of you might have seen the Mintel studyalready, but if not:

THE UK ONLINE POKER MARKET stopped growing in 2008 and will shrink this year, new research has concluded.

[RayUK]

Interesting - the lack of growth/decline (in revenue not necessarily numbers) according to the article is caused by 1) the recession causing people to play less and for smaller stakes and, 2) the increase in rakeback and rakeback type promotions leading to smaller margins.

If the recession turns into a recovery (bearing in mind the UK is still in recession with no *real* sign of recovery unlike a lot of the rest of the EU/world) then perhaps things might pick up again - but it does look like the rakeback 'wars' are starting to eat into profits.

[PimpYoda]

That's interesting. I read an article just the other day that gambling in the UK has increased due to the recession!! It's not the exact article below, but if you search online you may see quite a few:

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ENGLAND -- As reported by Your Canterbury: "Gambling problems could be on the increase as people suffering the effects of recession try to win their way out of debt.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests that bookie's takings are up despite many businesses reporting a serious downturn in trade.
"This could add to the general trend which indicates problem gambling is on the rise.
"Since the UK gambling laws were relaxed in 2005, gambling charity Gamcare has reported a sharp increase in the number of callers asking for help with gambling problems.
"...There are fears the credit crunch could increase the figures still further as more people turn to desperate measures to try to solve their financial worries. "...A Gamcare spokesman said: "We can't say either way whether there is a link [between the recession and an increase in gambling] because the data is not available..."