The recent spike on online poker may only be short-lived once things return to normal
There is a lot of noise in the poker community regarding the increase in traffic on most online poker sites since the coronavirus pandemic started. For some, this is just the beginning of a new revolution for the online gaming industry and, for others, like MTT pro player Patrick Leonard, that's not the case at all. Also known as the Brit, Leonard has recently made some comments in a personal way, where he said that he believes that the highlight experienced by the online poker industry will be followed by an inevitable crash.
Online poker is one of the forms of gambling that has been impacted positively by the lockdown orders and closure of nonessential businesses in response to the pandemic. Most poker sites have been reporting increased revenue and even legal poker markets in the US, like New Jersey and Delaware, which didn't have very strong online poker markets, are reporting a huge spike in popularity. There is nothing on the current stats that are other than pleasant to read; however, Leonard thinks that operators are heading into a disaster. "Have been watching online poker very closely over the last 2 months with having a stable that's invested 10s of millions in this time, a role at one of the biggest sites + I've basically played HS every day. I'm 95% sure a huge financial crash is coming, which will decimate us," said Leonard in a tweet.
"This [COVID] ‘opportunity’ could have given us the chance for a mini online boom, but instead it is IMO going to be a long-term disaster now. Previous very popular tournaments that initially surged are now overlaying. Example $530 stars marathon, really fun tournament…” He commented from the point of few of not only a player, but a staker of a number of other players. He says that unlimited reentries will cause people to go broke faster.
