Adams: 'Live Tournament Poker Drawing Dead'Poker Pro Shares Some of His Views with Card Player |
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Brandon Adams
Adams has recently been Tweeting about the developments, saying, for example, that state governments care about tax revenue, while the U.S. government wouldn’t necessarily care about the amount online poker could provide. He admitted he doesn’t know what the motivating factor would be in legalizing and regulating poker within the country if it’s not tax dollars, but he said that “there’s some chance that they never address the issue.”
Card Player caught up with Adams to ask him a few questions about his prognosis for online poker:
Brian Pempus: Who are the real winners, financially speaking, from the indictments against the major online poker sites?
Brandon Adams: In the US, there aren’t many winners. The biggest winners are Party Gaming (bwin.Party, BPTY), Harrah’s, Zynga, MGM, and Wynn. Secondary winners are established UK gaming houses such as William Hill and perhaps US horse-racing outfits such as Churchill Downs.
BP: It has been said that online poker is a toxic economic and legal issue for anyone running for political office in the near future. If a regulated and legalized system is delayed by this, what long term economic effects could this have on poker?
BA: I’m not sure it’s a toxic issue. That said, I don’t think there’s much political capital to be earned on one side or the other. It would not be surprising to me if legalization of online poker is not considered. There might be a handful of politicians fired up about the issue at any given time, but that is not enough to bring legalization and regulation unless those politicians are particularly well-placed.
BP: A lot of player money is tied up online right now. Do you anticipate a liquidity crunch within the poker community? What trickle-down effects could this have for the poker industry (including live tournament poker)? If poker is legalized in the US, how long could we expect it to take to recover from this current crisis?
BA: The worldwide appetite for poker is such that it grows continuously in the face of large rakes. That said, I do think there will be a big short-term crunch. In the absence of televised poker, tournament poker will likely see a big decline over time. The model of professional live tournament poker is drawing dead, when one considers rake, taxes, living expenses, and variance. It was a worthwhile gamble for some people only because of the potential upside of sponsorship dollars. If poker becomes legalized, the poker industry will recover instantaneously.
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