Online poker is on a winning streak. According to research firm River City Group, Internet poker alone is a $2 billion-a-year industry with a million players monthly. ComScore Media Metrix -- which measures all U.S. Internet users at home, work and college locations -- reports more than 29.1 million unique visitors to online gambling sites in April, out of a total audience of 165 million.
And, according to a recent survey from The University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, card playing for money has increased among males between the ages of 14 and 22. In 2004, 11.4% of in-school male youth reported betting on cards at least once a week, up from 6.2% in 2003; furthermore, 11.4% of these weekly card players are likely to gamble on the Internet. In addition, 43.2% of players who bet money weekly on cards were under 18, according to the Annenberg survey.
The most popular online poker sites, as compiled by CasinoCity.com, include PartyPoker.com and Pacific Poker, based in Gibraltar; PokerRoom.com and Empire Poker, based in Kahnawake, Canada; and Poker World Online Cardroom, based in Jamaica. Meanwhile, PartyGaming, the parent of PartyPoker.com, is planning to go public this week on the London Stock Exchange in an IPO valued at $9 billion. According to press reports, the company reported a profit of $371 million in 2004 on revenue of $601.6 million. For the first quarter of 2005, PartyGaming reported a profit of $125 million.
Observers agree that the numbers are impressive -- at least for the leaders. "It's a big business, widely distributed and badly regulated," says Wharton legal studies professor Dan Hunter. Indeed, the proliferation of online gambling operators such as the Gibraltar-based PartyGaming has opened a host of public policy, legal and e-commerce debates: What is legal? Do current laws on the books have any impact on Internet gambling? Can U.
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