Poker Predictions For 2016: Part 2

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Thursday, December 31st, 2015 | Written by Stephen Smith

The world of online poker saw some major changes in 2015, but now that the year is drawing to a close, experts are beginning to turn their attention to 2016 and think about what might lie ahead for the industry. Based on the current state of the online poker market, there are many interesting and exciting predictions that can be made, and following on from ‘Part 1‘, here are some theories on what we might expect to see in 2016.

6. Liquidity Will Become a Key Focus

As many states and European countries have seen problems making online poker viable due to low player liquidity, it’s likely that changes will be made to increase the size of the player pool before too long. While initially main markets such as Italy, France and Spain appeared open to sharing poker liquidity, the 2013 French Parliament’s decision to block such a move has held back the whole player sharing process, and hindered any potential growth these individual markets may otherwise have experienced. However, the European iPoker market is in such a fractured, and inefficient state right now that experts predict European countries and states may soon be forced to overturn their resistance, and start combining their player bases.

7. Pennsylvania iPoker Will Become Reality

Many people speculated that there was some chance online poker would be legalized in Pennsylvania in 2015. While the Keystone State didn’t manage to pass legislation this year, experts seem to be in unanimous agreement that the state will begin regulating online poker sometime in 2016. With a major budget crisis on their hands, Pennsylvania law makers are hoping that legalizing iGaming will bring an influx of cash to help offset the state’s massive deficit. It’s very likely that the law will pass sometime in 2016 and go into effect in the last quarter of the year, or in the early part of 2017.

While online poker players in Pennsylvania will likely have reason to celebrate in 2016, the situation does not look as promising for those in California. Continued lobbying against legalization from the horse racing industry will likely continue to stymie any progress. Still, it’s possible that the issues could be resolved in time for iGaming legislation to pass in 2017.

8. PokerStars Will Go Live

Now that New Jersey has agreed to allow PokerStars to operate in the state, it’s almost a sure bet that we’ll see the site debut in 2016. According to some forecasts it may happen as soon as the first quarter of the year, with the online giant’s move into New Jersey having the potential to transform the Gardern State’s iPoker market. As Amaya CEO David Baazov commented after receiving an iGaming license in October:

“I want to thank the DGE for their thorough and fair review of our business. We look forward to bringing our popular brands, innovative technology, marketing prowess and world-class security and game integrity to the growing New Jersey online gaming market.”

Many industry insiders believe that PokerStars may also end up with a license to operate in Pennsylvania once legislation passes. This would mean that PokerStars would be positioned to be the second biggest US interstate network, making them a fierce competitor for WSOP.com. Furthermore, having added casino games to its gambling mix, there is likely to be a major competition war erupt between PokerStars and land-based casino interests following the site’s US return.

9. Twitch Will Keep Creating Stars

What began as a place for watching gamers in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and other video games has now become a source of talent in the world of online poker. In 2015, millions of people tuned in to Twitch to watch Jason Somerville take to the virtual tables, while fellow twitcher Jaime Staples also landed an official sponsorship deal as a member of Team PokerStars Online Pro. In fact, even older more established figures in the poker world, including Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth, treated their fans to some entertaining and crowd pleasing twitch action in 2015, as well as numerous younger pros, such as Randy “nanonoko” Lew, and Felix “xflixx” Schneiders. In the meantime, the interest in online poker on Twitch is only growing, leading industry insiders to anticipate more new faces becoming virtual celebrities by streaming their online play.

Conclusion

Only time will tell if the online poker predictions mentioned in this two part article will become reality in 2016. One thing for certain, though, is that the industry and players alike will anxiously be on the lookout for more changes taking place in the iPoker landscape, whilst hoping that they will be for the better.