World Series of Poker Tournament Numbers Unaffected by UIGEA

Following the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in the US last year Harrah's Entertainment announced that they would not be accepting players who were sponsored by online poker, casino, or other gambling websites. The World Series of Poker tournaments, as a result, were expected to see a much lower turn out than the record breaking numbers that were seen last year. This, however, proved not to be the case, as not even the US government can seem to stop the popular American cultural phenomenon.

In the first 44 events of this year's World Series of Poker tournaments more than 38,000 players have sat down to play at tables. That number is much higher than the 31,000 players that played through the first 44 events of last year's World Series of Poker tournaments.

Harrah's explained that they have seen an increase in players registering in the tournaments for many reasons. The WSOP no longer accepts online satellite tournament winners, however Harrah's has changed the payouts in tournaments to spread more evenly so that more players would win more money. They also explained that they made it easier for players to register and pay tournament fees, as the reason for the increase in player numbers this year.

It is still unknown how many registrants there will be for the WSOP main event, which is expected to be the true test to see the effects of the UIGEA, however, the player registrations are expected to near or surpass last year's numbers of over 8,000 registrants.

July 3, 2007
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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