Yahoo's real money poker

Yahoo! UK & Ireland recently launched its first attempt at real money poker. Its 20 million visitors per month can now enter in direct contact with the online gambling. Mitch Garber, the CEO of Party Poker once said that only when the biggest internet giants enter the online gambling business would the competition begin.

And Yahoo! is a great competitor. C.J. Stanley, the Yahoo! spokesperson said that Party Gaming and 888 have every reason to be concerned. Yahoo! UK & Ireland has an audience about one-third of U.K. and Ireland's inhabitants (64 million).

More than 100,000 poker players are expected to register at Yahoo! UK & Ireland, and if this happens, Yahoo! UK & Ireland would be in the top next to PokerStars and PartyPoker.

River City Group Director of Publishing Mark Balestra said that Yahoo’s success is not guaranteed, but it has real chances to be. He said that the things are changing in the online gambling world, now the internet giants are starting to get involved in this business. He said that these internet giants have high chances of succeeding since they have their own community.

Balestra is not surprised by Yahoo's decision; he expected this to happen, since Yahoo introduced real-money bingo two years ago. Other internet giants have entered the online gambling business: America Online, and Microsoft.

Balestra thinks about the future of the online business: if Yahoo! will be successful in Europe, he is sure that AOL, Microsoft, Google and E-Bay will get involved. He is sure that the land-based casinos will do the same if Yahoo’s decision will prove to be successful.

The Sands, a casino located in Las Vegas announced its decision to open an online casino in U.K, and World Poker Tour recently signed a deal with Cryptologic to open an online casino in Europe.

Balestra said that PokerStars, 888 and Party Gaming were successful for such a long time, even if they faced legal challenges, because the casino brands and the established entertainment were not present in the business. The smaller brands were also successful because they didn’t had any true competition and because they used affiliate programs and player networks.

Balestra thinks that things will change in the online gambling world. Until now the established online brands received players with the help of the affiliate programs. Yahoo! will change this by using its trusted brand and databases and by not relying on the affiliate programs.

Stanley said that Yahoo! will not use any affiliates because they don’t need them; they can be successful without them, and real-money bingo is a real proof. Balestra confirmed Stanley’s statement, and he said that people will sign up with Yahoo! because they have confidence in it.

Yahoo! has confirmed that Europe has become the focus of the online gaming industry, by entering into the European market. The industry could be changed forever depending on Yahoo!’s success in the business.

Yahoo! joined St. Minver gaming company, partner of Boss Media, the online gaming's super-software provider. SportingBet, William Hill, Virgin, and Bwin are among other brands which run Boss Media.

Yahoo! Poker is part of St. Minver's and Boss Media's IPN (International Poker Network), the 12th-largest poker network on the Internet, according to pokersitecout.com.

Pokersitescout.com listed an IPN average of 1,603 cash players per day last week and PokerStars and PartyPoker averaged between 5,000 and 8,000 cash-game players per day.