Ontario’s Regulated Online Poker Market May Need a Bit of a Boost – Supreme Court Objects

Shared liquidity is key in poker. Unlike online casinos that carry their own prizes and pay out based on the RTP, poker players are motivated by the size of the pot they are competing for, and the more players there are to contribute to a certain pot, the higher it becomes. Shared Liquidity Is Uppermost on Online Poker Industry in Ontario, Canada However, Ontario’s online poker scene is in the doldrums, fears NSUS Group, the parent company behind GGPoker, a global poker behemoth. The remarks by NSUS Group’s Sarne Lightman come in the wake of a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has decided against sharing liquidity across provincial borders. Should the court have agreed, other provinces that support online poker, specifically Alberta, could have joined their player pools and prizes into a single market. This would have revitalized what is widely described as a moribund and waning industry, with online poker numbers in Ontario struggling. Lightman has commented for Casino.org, a leading industry media publication, arguing that while Ontario was one of the most successful examples of regulated iGaming in North America, online poker remained an outlier. “Unlike slots or sports betting, poker is a peer-to-peer game that needs a critical mass of players at the same time. The small liquidity has dramatically reduced tournament prize pools, and many game types and blind levels are no longer offered,” he told the publication. Shared liquidity has been an important part of the poker experience, so much so that the United States has been working to pool the efforts of iGaming states into one. The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement in the country already reunites Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, with the idea being that poker players from across jurisdictional borders could play on the same platform. Poker is historically a more difficult game to get people into. While it holds a strong appeal, the game also poses challenges. Botting and skilled players continue to grind down tables across the board to stay lucrative, while newer players may quickly feel out of their depth and give up on the game early. This affects the experience. Poker, recognized as a game of skill, also holds the key to big payouts. Besides facing constraints when it comes to liquidity, the sector is also further pressured by offshore online poker platforms, which may reunite larger player bases and feature much better overall prize conditions because of their sheer size. To overcome and partially offset some of these drawbacks, a shared liquidity in Ontario will help consolidate the player base and make the local market more attractive. However, with the Supreme Court holding back on this, it’s unlikely to see Ontario’s online poker scene in a much better shape any time soon.