‘The online poker boom is dead.’ This was the bold statement from poker tracking site PokerScout in an editorial published at the beginning of October. It claimed there was a deeper malaise in play than the mere end of the boom times. Poker it seemed to be suggesting was in some form of structural decline. ‘To be more specific, traffic data shows that the seasonal uptick expected at this time of year, which has happened with regularity for years, is not happening this year. In the last few years, the seasonal increase has ranged from 3% to 10%. This year has seen a 7% drop instead.’
The site put this down to two factors, oversaturation and the poker fad having run its course, which essentially added up to the same point.