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After the April 15 indictments of the three largest US-facing online poker rooms on charges of money laundering and bank fraud, one of the biggest beneficiaries appears to be Merge Poker.
Merge, home of Lock Poker, has more than doubled its “real cash” players and moved into the top 10 of the world’s largest online poker sites for the very first time in its history.
But Merge’s real flagship site is Sportsbook.com and its sister ventures, including PlayersOnly.com. Those sites announced they will no longer be accepting players from the US effective May 1. Existing Sportsbook.com players will still be welcome and Merge will likely continue to see growth as more players receive payouts from PokerStars over the coming days.
Some estimates suggest the Sportsbook.com Group provided Merge with nearly half its player base.
Industry observers believe that Sportsbook.com is unable to handle the mass volume of players with current payment processing issues. The company also believes it can generate significant interest from Canada and Europe without the processor restrictions. As things stand now, the majority of US players are unable to convert (use their bank-issued credit cards). While the US player volume is extensive, more Canadian and European players are able to actually join using a larger variety of banking methods.
- Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
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