The Impact of the FullTilt.com Site Closure

[rainmaker]

Interesting article from H2 Gambling Capital.



The Impact of the FullTilt.com Site Closure – The First Look

FullTilt’s Alderney gaming license was suspended on Wednesday 29 June and shortly after Tilt shut down their dot com poker platform. At the time Tilt had approximately 7,000 players participating in Ring Games and a further 6,000 registered for Tournaments.

So where did the 7,000 Ring Game and 6,000 Tournament players go?

H2 Gambling Capital actively tracks the player liquidity across the leading poker platforms in real-time. Of the platforms we track the majority saw some uplift in their player traffic in the following 36 hours.

Average Player Numbers Increase for 30 June vs 23 June 2011

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Source: H2 Gambling Capital

As was the case in the immediate aftermath of Black Friday the most notable benefit has been in low and micro play. On Thursday 30 June PokerStars average player numbers were up 612 (11.7% increase) and 1,580 (10.1%) in the low and micro categories respectively.

Average High/Medium Player Numbers Increase for 30 June vs 23 June 2011

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Source: H2 Gambling Capital

Over the same period PartyPoker saw an average increase of 361 (13.4%) players in low stakes games and 123 (15.6%) in micro. iPoker attracted an additional 5 (0.7%) and 82 (3.4%) across these categories. Of the smaller poker rooms, the most noticeable increase was on the PacificPoker (888) with 36 (8.3%) and 153 (13.1%) additional players respectively. At best this initial shift of play accounts for between 30 to 40% of Tilt’s low and micro players.

For medium stake players Stars experienced an increase of 398 (24.8%) average players, iPoker has seen 39 (24.8%) and Party 24 (7.38%). The biggest impact on a smaller poker platform was International Poker Network (IPN) with an average increase of 42 (16%) players. The uplift across major poker sites account for around 65 to 75% of Tilt players in this category.

For the important high category (blind levels over US$15/US$30 for fixed limit and US$5/US$10 for no limit ), which consists of the most revenue generative customers, the highest level of uplift has been seen by Stars with an average of 18 (9%) players followed by IPN with 8 (42.5%) and iPoker with 6.1 (11.6%). At best this accounts for 30 to 40% of FullTilt’s high rollers.

Percentage of Tilt Player Migration

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Source: H2 Gambling Capital

Less than 45% of players appear to have migrated to another major platform over the first 36 hours. This is likely due to players being unable to withdraw balances from Tilt and some lack of confidence in playing online poker in the current climate.

At this point Tilt are reportedly seeking an investor so they can pay their players. However, after even a few days offline it may be difficult for any meaningful confidence and liquidity to be restored on the site should it be launched.

H2 will continue to monitor the situation and provide another update in a week’s time.

[H1_Roller]

Interesting post rainmaker.

I'm not surprised a lot of players were lost, and it would be even less surprising if the main reason was indeed a total lack of confidence in the online game.

[rainmaker]

Interesting post rainmaker.

I'm not surprised a lot of players were lost, and it would be even less surprising if the main reason was indeed a total lack of confidence in the online game.

Yes, agree. Probably many "lost" players because of "confidence problems".


They identify two reasons for "lost" players:

- Players being unable to withdraw balance from Tilt
- Lack of confidence in online poker (in current climate)

[Luckylizzy]

Interesting charts and figures. Thanks for sharing them. I suppose it is going to take quite some time before players can establish some faith when it comes to entrusting their bankroll to an online poker site again.

I think it would be the safest to play at an online poker room that has not accepted US players just in case. I don't think that playing at any of those would be a problem. Especially with sites like PartyPoker and 888.

[rainmaker]

Interesting charts and figures. Thanks for sharing them. I suppose it is going to take quite some time before players can establish some faith when it comes to entrusting their bankroll to an online poker site again.

I think it would be the safest to play at an online poker room that has not accepted US players just in case. I don't think that playing at any of those would be a problem. Especially with sites like PartyPoker and 888.

Yes, I fully agree with you. I think the safest place to play poker (in todays climate) is at larger publicly traded European or Australian bookmakers/casinos. They have not accepted US players for years. And their "publicy traded"-status will usually serve as an extra protection.

I think it is crazy that some casinos or/and pokerroms still accept US players. They show a completely lack of respect for the safety of their customers. Both for US and non-US customers.