There's a prominent notice on the stunning new Sportsbook.com website
that this successful and long-established US-facing online casino,
horse and sportsbetting operation is "no longer owned or endorsed
by the Sportingbet plc group" - a somber reminder that the Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act forced the respected British publicly
listed Sportingbet to relinquish its Sportsbook subsidiary for a token
$1 only weeks ago.
The time has been well spent on a highly professional revamp of the
site and the introduction of a brand new online poker room on as yet
unidentified no-download software, which opens at the end of this
week in Beta format and will undoubtedly attract more American players
appreciative of the inclusive position this now private company has
adopted toward US gamblers.
Twice named the "Best US Sports Book" by the industry magazine
(2005, 2006), eGaming Review, Sportsbook.com has been a leader in
the online gaming industry since the pioneering days and shows no
sign of slowing down now despite the difficult business conditions
in the USA.
The new poker service is likely to start with a bang with the first
of 57 nightly freerolls that will run every evening at 9:00 PM EST
and give pokerheads a chance to try out the new software for themselves.Sportsbook.com
has promised nightly cash prizes, and an opportunity to win a tempting
$100 000 grand prize in an exotic location.
The top 10 finishers in each of the 57 freerolls will win cash prizes
and also be entered into the online “Semi-final Freeroll”
which will take place on January 20. The top 50 finishers in this
570 member tournament will all be 'in the money' and those who make
the top ten win an all expenses paid trip to the Sportsbook.com Super
Bowl Party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where they will participate
in the live $100 000 winner-takes-all finals.
The beta launch of the new poker platform has an additional treat
in the form of easy-on-the-eye Carrie Ann Stroup as the dealer. Contestants
can enter the Sportsbook.com Black Friday $100,000 Freeroll immediately.
The Black Friday $100 000 Freeroll is one of several ways Sportsbook.com
is giving members a chance to win $100 000, including a weekly $100
000 Perfect Parlay Challenge and the $100 000 Black Friday Trivia
Challenge.
Taking a more general and statistical look at the impact of the UIGEA
on US online poker, members on the popular poker message board 2+2
have been tracking and calculating the changes since the UIGEA passed,
based on the Pokersitescout data.
The latest dynamic data show that PokerStars is up 2961 over 6 weeks,
Full Tilt is up 2261, and Party Poker is down 3597. The total number
of players at peak times across all rooms this week was 59 885 compared
to a peak of 69 671 in September, leading to a conclusion that there
was possibly 10 000 less players in total.