Manne wrote:
Regardless of how it works out, you have to admit that the Merge Gaming Network has some guts.
The small online poker network is looking to fill the gaping void in the poker market by re-opening its doors to United States customers. The network laid out the welcome mat on Thursday, and while it has not made any official announcements, member sites such as Carbon Poker, Pokerview, Lock Poker, RPM Poker, and Black Chip Poker have all begun bringing U.S. players back into the fray.
Merge stopped accepting United States customers in the beginning of June, though it still allowed customers to continue to play at its virtual tables. Unlike larger competitors Absolute Poker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, who were all forced out of the U.S. market as a result of the Black Friday indictments, or even others who left the U.S. because of the Black Friday scare, Merge made its decision for its own reasons.
With the elimination of the big boys, Merge saw its player numbers surge; cash game traffic had increased 79 percent a month after Black Friday, according to PokerScout-com. This was great for the network’s member rooms, but it created one big problem: the flood of refugees caused headaches for the payment processing department.
At the time of the new U.S. player ban, Merge was experiencing a two week backlog of cashout requests. There was no relief in sight, either, so in order to keep things from getting worse and angering their loyal players, Merge shut off the flow of new U.S. players. The plan was for it to be a temporary move, though there was no specific duration for the “freeze out” announced.
Rumors popped up a couple times this summer that Merge was “close” to re-opening in the United States. In mid-July, word was that Merge might start accepting new U.S. customers by around the end of the month, but that obviously did not happen. Then, in the second week of August, a report came out that it could happen within a week or so. Again, it did not happen on a network-wide basis, though Sportsbook-com did begin new U.S. customers.
But now, even though the network has told skins to not be too vocal in making the decision know to the general public, Merge is open for business once again in the U.S. Currently, the Merge Gaming Network ranks as the 12th largest online poker room or network in terms of cash game traffic, according to PokerScout-com. With the wasteland that is U.S. internet gambling, that makes it the biggest U.S.-facing network, ahead of Bodog (13th) and the Cake Poker Network (20th). Bodog will be shutting out U.S. players completely at the turn of the year. As new players begin to signup, Merge might be able to break into the top ten. With a seven day average of 1,140 cash game players, it is just 40 players behind iPoker.it, though it does have a ways to go to overtake the Entraction network, which has a seven day average of 1,300 cash game players.
Carbon Poker and Pdc Poker
Blackjack is the most popular casino banking game in the world play Blackjack at Carbon Poker or Pdc Poker . Also commonly known as 21, it is a game played against the house where the objective is to get your hand value closer to 21 than the dealers, without going over 21.
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2012/01/25
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"When online gambling is legalized, Facebook will be a $100 billion company."
That's $100 billion of revenue, not $100 billion in market value (Facebook's already close to the latter.)
For context, Google is a $40 billion company. And Facebook did about $4 billion of revenue last year.
The insider's theory?
Given the popularity of social gaming on Facebook's platform already, the insider figures that legalized online gambling (poker, etc.) will drive Facebook's revenue to the moon.
Facebook currently gets a 30% cut of all virtual goods purchased using Facebook Credits through companies like Zynga. With Zynga netting about $1 billion of revenue per year, this suggests that Facebook is currently generating about $400 million of gaming revenue through Zynga alone. (Most of Facebook's revenue is ad revenue, but the "Credits" business is meaningful.)
There would have to be a LOT of gambling done through Facebook for the company to generate $100 billion in revenue. But given how nuts people are about gambling, and how powerful Facebook's social platform could be for this, gambling would likely be a big opportunity.
Toward the end of last year, Facebook was rumored to be looking into hosting gambling in the U.K., where online gambling is already legal.
The big opportunity, though, will come in the United States, if and when online gambling is legalized.
According to a Wall Street Journal article earlier this week about Zynga potentially getting into gambling, many U.S. states are now pushing for online gambling to be legalized. Some of the big casino companies are trying to get Federal laws changed, and Indian tribes and lottery groups are lobbying for changes at the state level. With states desperate for new sources of revenue, changes to these laws could actually be on the way.
So could online gambling make Facebook a $100 billion company?
$100 billion is a lot.
But it seems safe to say it could make Facebook a much, much bigger company.