Britain's love affair with online poker sees big winners and losers
Posted by Gavin Smith on 07 May 2009 at 10:05
In Britain online poker now means business. Big business. And just about everyone you can think of is getting in on the act.
Newspaper the Independent has just launched its own poker league in a joint venture with Virgin Poker, while encouraging people to gamble responsibly. As part of the launch, the paper has profiled the internet gaming industry and what makes computer card sharks across the land tick.
Some have even made a living out of what some people say is not form of gambling, but a form of sport. According to the Independent, a million people play poker and bet their cash in Britain every year, although the global sector is worth over £1 billion.
This is also a changing market, where the government has recently increased tax on poker profits from 15 per cent to 50 per cent, which is set to hit the pockets of offline poker operators. However, internet gaming companies are often based offshore, and as such are exempt from tax. But the thirst for poker virtually and in real life appears to be showing little sign of letting up, and it has even meant great success for some people who have turned it into a living.
Quoted by the Independent, Joe Legge, poker product manager at Virgin Games, says that there are more than 500,000 regular poker players. He says: "“For some, it’s their profession but for most it’s a form of entertainment that is mentally stimulating and doesn’t have to involve risking a lot of money. The Independent’s poker league is a great extension of our commitment to the social side of poker playing.”
As part of the insight into what is turning into a national obsession, the Independent spoke to Steph Boyd, of Darvel, close to Glasgow, one of the people who has made poker not just a hobby but his main source of income.
Quoted by the paper, he said: "It’s a great lifestyle, it’s a great job, To be honest, there are not a lot of other jobs I could do. Before I turned professional I worked as a fitness instructor, but then I made a serious amount of money in a very short space of time." In his first year of playing as professional in 2006 he says he made £1.5 million.
His adventure started three years ago when he set up a bank account and ploughed £1,000 into it to pay for poker playing, but decided to quit his job and turn to the cards full time after he was able to start drawing £200 a month in salary from the game.
But it's not all million pound bank balances and laugh-a-minute thrills. The paper also profiles the case of ex-mayor Jayne Yeomans, who was sent to prison for stealing nearly £65,000 to pay for her online poker addiction. The 49-year-old forged her husband's signature, and also remortgaged the house in order to get her hands on £25,000 to pay off some of the debts, according to the Independent.
But some say these cases are very much in the minority and most people play poker online without getting into difficulty. Kara Scott, a television host who has appeared on online coverage of the likes of the PokerStars European Poker Tour, told the Independent: "I think there are people out there with really addictive personalities who get addicted to anything, some people are always going to take it too far."
She also pointed out the options out there for those who feel their addictions are becoming a problem, like GamCare.org.uk. These days many online poker sites also allow you to block yourself out of them. The player can simply inform the site they have a problem and in return they will block someone's account for six months or 12 months so they simply can't play.
Government regulations aligned with poker licences mean the gambling commission puts pressure on companies to encourage socially responsible gaming. Players must also verify their ages on a site before they can play and helpful information about sensible gaming should be made available on sites too.
Players can turn to charities like GamCare if they think their online gaming is getting out of control or if it is frequently becoming more of an escape from their problems than a hobby. Those who have a problem may also find that they are always trying to stop but fail, or become extremely restless when not playing.
But for some pro players, it's no longer a habit, but a way of making a comfortable living. According to the Independent, Boyd adds: "My priorities are my wife and three kids. I have luckily been able to buy a new house and that is a great thing to have at my stage in life. My online poker playing is a wee bit of fun.
"So far, it has been very good to me. It just seems to be common sense for me to keep going." He adds that his wife went to university three years ago and is planning to start a new job in finance. She has been very supportive of his venture, he adds.
According to Scott, playing over the Internet can help someone to overcome fears they might have about travelling to a poker tournament filled with men. She says, according to the paper: “That fear is definitely circumnavigated by playing online. And you do get a few men who do some really inappropriate things."
For now it seems the legions of online poker players are here to stay. What seemed like it could be a mere fad a couple of years ago is now a big-time hobby for many players. For a lucky few it has even been the making of their fortune.
-American accountant Chris Moneymaker is among those listed by the Independent as having made a success of the game. The paper says he won a seat at the 2003 World Series of Poker after he took part in a satellite tournament. He splashed out a total of $39.00 to go into the first game but ended up winning $2.5 million by coming first at the global tournament.
-Then there are young guns like 19-year-old Pennsylvanian Zachary Gruneberg. The paper says he dropped out of university last month to turn pro after winning a quarter of a million dollars at the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship earlier this year. Too young to gamble offline in America, he is an online fan. Quoted by the paper, he says he would sometimes play more than 10 hours of poker online at school. “While you're playing, you can do so much other stuff. You can watch a TV show, talk to your friends, be on Facebook. It's all about multi-tasking.” he says.
-Others like Roy Brindley, from Dorking, Surrey, have had more of an up and down time of it, the report adds. He managed to win £1 million in poker over eight years, and in his autobiography, Life's a Gamble, he says addiction to gaming meant he was homeless on occasion. However, he said playing is "massively satisfying".
-Finally the paper cites the case of Christopher Proudfoot. A finance controller, he ploughed £1 million of his employer's money to his bank account from December 2004 to January 2008 to back his habit. The 28-year-old Inverness resident pleaded guilty in February to embezzlement of the cash. He warns: "The problem with some of these sites is when you win big they have their own way of getting it back." He adds he found that winning a fair amount of money didn't mean he could easily get it back, and sites would not let players withdraw without letting others know, prompting people to carry on playing.
