The online poker scene is, without a doubt, in a constant state of expansion. While some jurisdictions have chosen to ban it as a legal pastime, others have embraced it and freely offer it to residents. Of course, it’s always good to know what’s in store for the future. And while this can’t easily be predicted, it’s good to take a few guesses at what some experts will take place in the industry in the near future.
That’s why we’ve put together a collection of the top online poker trends for 2019. Maybe you’ll get to witness and experience some of these upcoming potential changes yourself as a poker player. Let’s see what next year holds for the world of online poker.
- Poker players today are spoiled for choice when choosing an online poker room thanks to dozens of poker sites providing their online poker services to them. However, with so many leading poker sites available online, the selection process can become quite confusing and stressful at times, especially to newcomers entering the online poker community.
- An international online poker tournament held late in March shattered a record for entries and generated an $18.6 million prize pool, making it one of the largest online tournaments ever. PokerStars said the “Sunday Million” prize pool was the largest in company history. A record 93,016 entries played in the $215 buy-in tournament.
- An international online poker tournament is setting records in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The 'Sunday Millions' tournament this week broke a record for entries and generated a $18.6.
Table 3: Leading Online Poker Players Worldwide (2012) Percentage Market Share Breakdown by Value Sales for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, PartyPoker, iPoker Network, 888Poker, Microgaming Poker.
Pennsylvania Makes Its Move to Enter Interstate Network
Online Poker Trends Sites
The US has had a shaky relationship with the online world of poker since the infamous Black Friday events that took place in 2011. This forced so many poker operations to shut down across the country. However, it has slowly been working its way back into the United States, with three states there participating in a united multi-state network. These exist in the states of Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada.
Yet, the poker communities in these states haven’t been enough to really draw in enough of a sort of revenue for them. They now rest their hopes for a boost from the state of Pennsylvania, which just recently legalised more gambling options for its residents. While an actual integration into the interstate poker network isn’t expected to fully complete until 2020 at the earliest, many believe that Pennsylvania will begin proceedings for this next year.
Whether or not it will provide the multi-state network with the much-needed boost that it’s looking for remains to be seen.
Virtual Reality Makes a Big Impact
If you’re not already aware of it, virtual reality technology is making big waves in the world of gaming. It’s already made an impact in the video gaming world, so another logical step to take is to invade the online gambling scene. Steps have already been taken with regards to this, with numerous casino games able to be played via VR today.
However, it’s possible that 2019 will mark a great start for virtual reality online poker gaming. In fact, it promises to be somewhat of an immersive and engaging experience for users. VR has the ability to take all of the social and fun sides of participating in a live poker game and combine that with the convenience that playing it online brings. In this respect, you’ll be able to make friends with other players at the VR poker tables and be able to interact with them and the croupiers on a higher level.
Not only that, but virtual reality poker will allow for spectators to have much more of an engaging experience, too. Standing by and watching a game play out won’t just be a matter of you sitting and watching a screen of a table and some cards. Instead, as a spectator through VR technology, you’ll be able to watch as though it were unfolding right in front of you in a land-based establishment. Who knows what 2019 could bring in the area of VR?
PokerStars Struggles to Remain at the Top
There’s little doubt that PokerStars exists as one of the world’s best-known and most-popular online poker rooms. It’s not difficult to see why, either. It has been facing tough competition from brands like 888 Poker and PartyPoker throughout 2018, so you can see how pushed it’s going to be in 2019, too. In fact, PartyPoker just scored a great victory with its MILLIONS online tournament, which now stands at the top of the events with the largest prize pool after it smashed its $20 million guarantee.
Will PokerStars actually lose out on its top spot position overall, though? It’s true that in 2018, the platform has lost a fair number of players due to several changes that have been made throughout the year. Some people predict that the number of PokerStars fans will continue to decline in 2019, although it’s thought that this won’t be by any significant amount to knock it from the prime position.
PartyPoker will doubtless remain as the number one threat to the number one spot currently held by PokerStars, although others like bWin and such have heavily stepped up their game this year. Some have also made mention of the Asian poker market creeping up the ranks in 2019, too.
Online Poker Trends 2019
Live Poker Games Improve in Popularity
We’re not saying that live poker is unpopular right now. Far from it. In fact, the live poker scene has grown in popularity as the years have gone by, and this potentially means that once 2019 rolls around, there will be numerous big win live events to participate in. If PartyPoker is able to provide a tournament with a guarantee of $20 million as it did this year, then there’s a likelihood of being able to involve yourself in events with even higher prize pools next year.
At the moment, there are various annual tournaments that attract masses of players to them, with satellites and such for these allowing entry for a small buy-in fee. Watch out for events like the PartyPoker Live Tour and the WPT Tour in 2019.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is less than a month away, too. The first of its 41 scheduled events is due to begin on January 6. With no rake charge and a total of $9 million in prize funds – including a guarantee of $1 million for the winner of the whole tournament – it stands as being the first of several shining jewels for 2019.
Cryptopoker to Become a Big Deal?
There isn’t really so much to say about this, which is why we thought we’d just touch on it as a final point. While it’s true that cryptocurrencies are booming and are even being used now more than ever at online casinos, the same is not true for online poker sites. Only a small number of poker players actually make use of cryptocurrencies.
So, while some people have made mention of the potential for a cryptopoker boom in 2019, logically, it doesn’t make sense for it to happen. At least, not as early as next year. It’s more likely that standard poker rooms will start offering cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals on a higher level than they do now. Wouldn’t you prefer to play at a site that offers traditional and cryptocurrency deposits, rather than just cryptopoker?
Online gambling is one of the fastest-growing industries today. While the first quarter of the year decimated many other entertainment fields due to COVID 19, online casinos flourished and showed they are incredibly sensible to customers’ needs. Gambling trends in 2020 have a lot to teach other industries when it comes to flexibility and innovation.
The market size value of online gambling businesses is estimated to almost $60 billion in 2020, while that number is expected to rise to $127 billion in the next seven years. The market always has something new to offer, and a lot has been improved on the go.
So what are the exciting innovations we can see in the online gambling world this year? Let’s look at the most important changes.
There is a real croupier dealing, a physical deck of cards and the green cloth – everything is real, but you are in the commodity of your own home. Live dealer games have become increasingly popular during this year. All through live streaming services so you and other players can have a genuine, yet safe gambling experience.
Traditional online table games used to involve random number generators which didn’t really sit well with the players. There is charm and authenticity in being served by an elegant croupier that can never be replaced by a machine, no matter how statistically perfect the results may be.
Another reason why this type of gambling became enormously sought after is the authenticity of the environment. Lighting, sound and ambient looks professional and there are multiple cameras recording every dealer’s move from multiple angles. Players can even talk with them and other players during the game.
Whether you’re into poker, roulette, blackjack or any other table game, you can relax at home while having a genuine brick-and-mortar casino experience.
Many major and new online casinos like 777 Slots Bay are already accepting crypto as a legitimate payment method, but it seems that this digital currency has gained significant traction in the previous year. This trend is rising continuously for several reasons.
Blockchain technology offers transparency and security at the same time. Every transaction made using cryptocurrencies is anonymous and all existing data about the transfer is incorruptible. This is achieved by storing data about the transaction across multiple nodes (meaning that it is stored on many different computers).
Related to the aforementioned fact, it is important to note that there is no single physical or virtual location that stores cryptocurrency. Different users own different amounts, yes, but the data about the transactions, users and value is owned and distributed by all participants.
Furthermore, when doing a transaction using crypto, there are no third parties like banks and gateways. This enables transfers to be almost instantaneous. There are minimal transaction fees and no hidden costs and conversions.
One of the most unusual recent trends is the rapid increase of women who participate in online gambling games. Whether the online experience suits them better than the real-life casinos or is it just the result of the current lifestyle, no one can tell for sure.
But new online gambling sites have embraced this new clientele readily. Some sites even specialize in games made for ladies. Since the average age of this group is 25-35 years, the games are made to follow the mentality and interests of a younger population.
The rate at which women enter the gambling world has been higher than that of the male population in the past two years. No one can tell for sure if this trend is going to continue, but if it does, it will definitely make a huge impact on the industry. Probably for the better.
Although virtual reality gaming is nothing new, it has entered the gambling realm only recently. Even so, the incredible popularity of games incorporating virtual and augmented reality has made this niche spread like wildfire.
Online Poker Trends 2020
Virtual reality games enable players to share the same virtual space, like sitting at the same table and talking to others while playing. Although this technology is still in the making, it is evolving rapidly and in a few years, we might be able to sit in the same virtual room playing poker, while looking at each other.
Augmented reality is similar, but doesn’t use a virtual environment. Rather, it uses a real environment and then adds overlays to make it more interesting. It also enables visual effects, distorsions and animations that can be preset or chosen by the players. The whole experience is very immersive and adds a certain layer of fun that is completely new to gambling.
Mobile devices have taken over literally every online market, and online gambling is no exception. There is an increasing demand for mobile gambling platforms and developers are busy trying to deliver mobile optimization and new, custom-made games for these devices. Statistics show that a significant share of players prefers mobile gambling, and those numbers are only rising.
While the majority of online gambling sites have already optimized their content for mobile devices, it is evident that gambling apps are much more popular among the players. Hopefully, this new demand will be addressed in the next couple of years.
Adapting classic games like roulette or poker to a small, vertical screen might be a bigger challenge than it seems, though. A lot of developers share an opinion that mobile gaming will bring novelties to the gaming style, but this is yet to be seen.
Online Poker Trends
The year 2020 is definitely the year of online gambling. So many innovations emerged recently, and so many new technologies have become a norm. The industry grows at an insane pace, and we’re sure that gamblers all over the world are in for a truly fantastic ride!