Posted by Johnnymac 10:22 PM
An interesting point I found while surfing this evening:

Online poker and the WSOP are more intertwined than ever.

In the past, online poker rooms merely were avenues for a few players to win seats to the WSOP. Some online sites were also small advertisers on WSOP broadcasts. Now, it is clear that online poker rooms play a crucial role in the popularity as well as the bottom line of the WSOP.

Not only is it expected that the vast majority of WSOP Main Event entrants qualified through online sites, the online sites have a huge physical presence at the WSOP. Most have hospitality booths right outside of the Amazon Room. Party Poker is one of the major sponsors of the WSOP; its logo is front and center on every poker table at the WSOP.

Let's not kid ourselves folks. The future of the WSOP largely depends on the online poker rooms. In a time when some politicians are fighting to restrict online poker, we have a feeling that Harrah's and the other major land-based casinos are going to try to defend what is certainly helping them butter their bread.

I hadn't thought about the effect of the online gambling bil's effect on the WSOP and Harrah's. Not that it will make a difference, but an interesting thought that Harrah's certainly has quite a vested interest in keeping online poker legal when you consider the issue in those terms.

0 Comment(s):

Post a Comment