Brits can’t get enough live poker — even during COVID-19 lockdown

Michael
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Posted on: June 1, 2020 5:53 pm EDT

According to a recent report published in the United Kingdom by The Sun, one in seven British citizens has admitted to breaking lockdown rules, with some citing playing poker as a legitimate reason to leave home and risk being another statistic of the pandemic that’s gripping the planet.

While the country has been in lockdown for over two months and strict social distancing measures preventing people from seeing loved ones are in place, the survey reveals some interesting statistics:

• 14% surveyed admit to breaking some of the rules
• 26% of those surveyed say they followed the advice well, albeit with a couple of lapses
• 4% of those surveyed say they had loosely followed the rules—or not followed the rules at all.
• 67% said they totally followed the rules
• 0.7% said they haven’t really followed the rules at all

It’s worth noting that the 0.7% figure could be much higher, as those choosing to completely break the rules might be apt to keep their rule breaking to themselves out of fear of becoming a neighborhood pariah.

In the article, a student named Michael admitted to flouting social distancing rules to attend neighborhood poker games.

He noted, “We had friends round for a poker night… 15 of us drinking until 4am. The neighbours were suspicious, but we said it was just us. It felt a bit wrong. But…we’d been isolating, we didn’t travel or have symptoms. Now I think what we did wasn’t that bad.”

On March 23rd, the United Kingdom went into lockdown when Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, ordered residents to stay home and travel only for necessities. Outdoor exercise was also limited to just one hour per day to help stop the spread.

With the end of the pandemic not in sight, poker players around the world are turning to online poker to get their fill of excitement. Many online poker rooms are experiencing tremendous growth and players are benefitting with increased liquidity and larger-than-promised prize pools.